•   • 


THE  INNER  LIFE 


AND  THE 


-TEH-WtfGr 


mwrn. 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 

James  H.   Collins 


IJe  mystic  Book  Shoppe 

CIRCULATmq  LlBRARl) 

1508  ITlanori  Street  Cfampa,  Florida 


The 

Inner  Life 

and  the 

Tao-Teh-King 


By 
C.  H.  A.  BJERREGAARD 

Librarian,  New  York  Public  Library 


New  York 

THE  THEOSOPHICAL  PUBLISHING   CO. 
OF  NEW  YORK 

253  West  72nd   Street 
1912 


Copyright  1911 

By  THE  THEOSOPHICAL  PUBLISHING  CO. 
OP  NEW  YORK 


Published  December  1,  1912 


URL 


V\r\<\ 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter        I. — The  Inner  Life  and  the  Tao-Teh-King . .     1-  16 

Chapter      II. — The  Inner  Life 17-  33 

Chapter     III. — Mysticism 34-  58 

Chapter     IV. — Simplicity  59-  71 

Chapter       V.— The  Sage 72-  88 

Chapter     VI. — Laotzse  89-104 

Chapter   VII. — Longevity 105-123 

Chapter  VIII. — Nature  Worship 124-135 

Chapter     IX.— Tao 136-151 

Chapter       X.— Teh 152-166 

Chapter     XL— Life,  Love,  Light  and  Will 167-180 

Chapter   XIL— A  Shawnee  Tale 182-195 

Chapter XIII.— "Non- Action"    196-210 

Chapter  XIV.— Nature  211-219 

Chapter    XV. — An  Appendix  on  Jean  Jacques  Rous- 
seau's Ideas 220-225 


BY  THE   SAME  AUTHOR: 

Lectures  on  Mysticism  and  Talks  on  Kindred  Subjects .    Chicago,  1896. 

Lectures  on  Mysticism  and  Nature  Worship .    Chicago,  1897. 

A  Sufi  Interpretation  of  Omar  Khayyam  and  Fitzgerald.  New 
York,  1902. 

Jesus,  a  Poet,  Prophet,  Mystic  and  Man  of  Freedom.    New  York,  1912. 

Articles  on  Mysticism,  Sufism  and  Kindred  Subjects  in  The  Inter- 
national Encyclopedia,  The  Cyclopedia  of  Religious  Knowledge 
(S.  M.  Jackson),  Encyclopedia  Americana  (1904),  etc.,  etc. 


It 


PREFACE 


These  chapters  were  originally  lectures  to  a  small,  but  select  company. 
They  are  now  revised  and  published  for  a  larger  world.  They  claim  not 
to  be  exhaustive,  but  only  an  attempt  in  direction  of  a  mystic  interpre- 
tation of  the  Tao-Teh-King,  a  manner  of  reading  that  famous  book  but 
little  practiced  and  less  understood.  The  only  proper  way  of  reading  that 
book  is  in  the  light  of  mysticism.  The  book  can  certainly  not  be  handled 
like  a  Confucian  document. 

I  lay  no  claim  to  be  a  Sinologist.  I  have,  however,  in  many  places 
examined  the  texts  and  made  translations  differing  somewhat  from  others. 
Elsewhere  I  have  used  all  the  known  translations,  with  which  I  have 
usually  agreed. 

It  is  more  than  thirty  years  since  I  began  in  this  country  to  call 
attention  to  the  Tao-Teh-King.  It  was  then  an  almost  unknown  book. 
Since  then,  several  translations  and  paraphrases  have  been  published  in 
this  country  and  articles  of  more  or  less  value  have  appeared  in  magazines, 
but  much  remains  to  be  done  if  this  treasure  is  to  become  known  where  it 
ought  to  be  known.  I  hope  my  undertaking  may  be  a  step  in  that 
direction.  Without  the  generosity  of  the  theosophists  before  whom  the 
original  lectures  were  delivered,  the  book  could  not  have  been  published. 
I  owe  them  mv  profound  thanks. 

C.  H.  A.  BJERREGAARD. 


THE    INNER   LIFE    AND    THE    TAO-TEH-KING 

I. 

THE  main  difficulty  in  speaking  about  the  Inner  Life  is 
the  language  that  must  be  used. 
The  medieval  and  renaissance  mystics  and  occultists 
were  obliged  for  various  reasons  to  use  alchemical 
language  and  phraseology  to  express  their  wisdom  of  life,  be- 
cause such  language  was  picturesque  and  easily  comprehended 
by  minds  of  a  mechanical  and  practical  turn,  minds  crude  and 
ignorant  of  their  own  psychic  powers  and  processes. 

To-day  we  have  the  same  difficulty  to  overcome  as  the  older 
mystics.  Our  audiences  are  unfamiliar  with  psychology  and 
so  little  in  the  habit  of  seeing  themselves  as  units,  that  they 
really  believe  themselves  to  be  mere  bundles  of  faculties,  forces 
and  states,  and  are  unable  to  give  an  account  of  their  mental, 
moral  and  spiritual  condition.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  pre- 
sent the  Inner  Life  as  if  it  were  something  in  space  and  time. 
It  is  necessary  to  speak  of  traveling  on  paths,  as  if  such  paths 
were  actual  roads;  and  yet,  Inner  Life  and  Outer  Life,  Travel- 
ing and  Paths,  are  only  terms  of  psychic  conditions.  I  shall 
in  this  chapter  speak  of  passing  over  bridges  as  if  I  literally 
meant  it.  I  shall  be  using  realistic  language,  but  not  talk  about 
realistic  bridges.  I  shall  talk  psychology.  Spiritually  under- 
stood, there  is  no  Inner  Life,  there  is  no  Outer  Life,  there  is  no 
Path,  no  Bridge,  No  East,  No  West,  no  High,  no  Low — what 
is  there?  Well — wait  till  you  have  read  these  chapters  and  you 
may  know! 

I  will  now  do  like  the  genial  boy  does  who  wants  to  know 
how  his  machinery  is  made  and  put  together — he  picks  it  to 
pieces  and  examines  it.  I  will  likewise  pick  our  deeper  life  to 
pieces  and  tiy  to  show  what  it  is  and  how  it  works,  and,  as  I 
proceed,  I  shall  put  it  together  again. 

A  few  words  about  different  standpoints  and  the  "two 
voices":  that  of  the  Orient  and  that  of  the  Occident,    For  the 


&  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

sake  of  the  deepest  understanding  of  problems  which  are  of 
the  uttermost  importance  to  all  thinking  people,  it  is  desirable 
that  all  theosophic  and  mystic  subjects  should  be  studied  from  a 
Western  standpoint  as  well  as  from  an  Oriental.  Most  of  you 
here  present  are  accustomed,  I  think,  to  hear  these  subjects 
presented  in  Oriental  phrases  and  in  set  terminology,  all  de- 
rived from  Eastern  sources.  It  has  seemed  to  me  desirable  that 
you  should  hear  the  same  truths  set  forth  in  Western  termin- 
ology. I  am  sure  you  can  only  be  the  gamers.  I  propose  to 
set  them  forth  that  way.  But  let  me  say  something  to  guide 
you  to  see  the  similarities  and  to  prevent  confusion. 

Let  me  take  as  an  illustration  a  familiar  object,  a  lense, 
either  concave  or  convex.  The  lense  remains  a  lense  what- 
ever you  do  with  it,  but  it  reflects  the  light  variously  as  the 
light  falls  upon  the  concave  or  the  convex.  You  may  call  the 
concave  a  type  of  the  East,  and  the  convex  a  type  of  the  West, 
if  you  like,  or  vice  versa.  The  viewpoint  and  the  judgment  are 
personal,  indifferent,  not  real;  the  reality  in  the  case  is  the 
fact  that  the  lense  reflects  the  light.  The  lense,  of  course,  is  the 
mind. 

Because  I  speak  of  great  truths  from  the  Western  point 
of  view  and  in  Western  terminology,  I  differ  only  from  some 
of  you  in  viewpoint  and  in  personal  aspect,  but  not  really;  we 
meet  in  the  middle,  in  mind;  in  the  Inner  Life;  in  the  fact  that 
we  both  reflect  the  real,  each  in  our  individual  way,  however. 

Another  illustration.  Let  us  suppose  I  pass  over  a  bridge : 
the  " bridge  of  existence,"  from  one  end,  the  Western,  and  you 
from  the  other  end,  the  Eastern.  We  shall  see  the  Middle  of 
the  bridge  and  the  approaches  differently,  but  we  shall  both  be 
passing  the  same  bridge.  And  let  me  add  that  it  would  be  wise 
for  those  of  my  listeners  who  have  passed  over  such  a  bridge 
from  one  end  only  also  to  pass  back  over  the  bridge  from 
the  other  end.  They  shall  certainly  be  the  wiser  for  so  doing. 
It  is  the  mystic's  way.  And  let  me  say  further,  and,  here  I 
hint  at  a  mystery,  let  me  say,  that  since  neither  you  nor  I  know 
absolutely  which  is  the  beginning  or  the  end  of  the  bridge,  that 
it  is  immaterial  which  is  the  East  or  the  West  end  of  it.  The 
most  important  part  of  the  bridge  is  the  Middle;  from  the 
Middle  of  the  bridge  we  may  ascend  into  another  plane  of  ex- 
istence, and  find  that  that  existence  is  the  real  one.  and  that 
neither  of  the  two  approaches  have  any  reality. 

Nature  knows  of  no  Beginning  nor  End;  knows  only  the 


THE  INNER  LITE  6 

Middle;  the  Inner  Life.  She  spreads  out  continually  from  the 
Center,  from  the  ever-present  Now.  For  that  reason,  the  Middle 
is  called  the  first  or  fundamental  principle  and  is  the  Inner  Life. 
And  for  that  reason,  I  say,  that  neither  the  East  end  nor  the 
West  end  have  any  reality.  As  for  myself,  I  have  long  ago 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  neither  end  of  the  bridge  is  the  real 
one,  and,  long  ago  a  wise  man  talked  much  about  the  Middle 
Path.  I,  for  one,  am  sure  he  spoke  the  truth.  And  I  have  found 
many  who  also  have  understood  him. 

What  is  the  Middle?  Now  I  shall  not  indulge  in  meta- 
physics or  mysticism,  but  use  a  well-known  theosophic  phrase 
as  my  illustration.  The  theosophic  doctrine  of  "Brotherhood" 
is  a  very  practical  application  of  the  philosophic  doctrine  Mid- 
dle ;  it  is  the  at-one-ing  point  for  all  races  and  creeds ;  it  answers 
to  the  One  in  philosophy.  In  that  doctrine  Theosophy  pro- 
claims equal  rights  for  all  extremes.  It  is  the  gospel  of  "good 
will  among  men."  It  answers,  as  I  said,  to  the  One  in  phi- 
losophy; and  to  Unity.  It  is  that  which  Schiller  calls  the  Holy 
Will  and  "the  idea  supreme";  it  is  the  power,  that  works  for 
righteousness;  the  "spirit  of  rest"  that  ever  tries  to  stay  the 
changeful  world.  It  is  the  "Love"  of  St.  John;  it  is  "the  pure 
form  of  thought"  of  Kant.  It  is  "god  incarnate"  of  Christian- 
ity. All  these  terms  explain  what  the  Middle  is ;  what  the  Inner 
Life  is.  They  explain  that  Middle,  which  we  meet  from  whatever 
end  we  enter  the  bridge  of  life,  and  it  is  from  such  a  Middle,  I 
said,  that  we  readily  swing  ourselves  to  heaven.  Unless  we  come 
to  the  perfect  realization,  that  life  is  one,  one  glorious  whole, 
and  not  split  up  into  various  antagonistic  elements,  we  shall 
never  come  to  sound  and  rational  philosophies  or  religions.  Hu- 
man life  is  fallen  apart  and  now  lies  in  most  unfortunate  dual- 
isms of  good  and  evil,  of  inner  and  outer,  of  upper  and  lower,  of 
heaven  and  hell.  The  guilty  ones  are  both  saints  and  sinners; 
the  first  in  ignorance,  the  latter  in  wilful  misrepresentation. 
Away!  Away!  Let  us  now  and  henceforth  build  temples  to 
Unity,  to  the  One,  to  the  Middle,  to  the  Inner  Life!  Life,  Ex- 
istence, is  one.  not  manifold;  one  at  the  core;  only  manifold  in 
manifestation.  .'  .*+  -is  hang  on  to  that.  With  this  doctrine  and 
realization  before  us,  we  can  without  fear  examine  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  Easi  and  the  West  and  see  how  they  are  merely 
extremes  of  a  Higher  Truth,  a  Higher  Unity.  And  perhaps 
you  will  agree  with  me  that  it  is  desirable  that  I  should  speak 
from  a  Western  point  of  view. 


4  THE  IN  NEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TBH-KING 

To  simplify  matters,  let  me  characterize  the  two  viewpoints. 
The  East  is  synthetic;  the  West  is  analytic;  that,  of  course, 
makes  views  different,  yet  the  multitudinousness  of  the  circum- 
ference is  only  the  center  spread  out,  so  to  say.  They  answer 
to  each  other  like  concave  and  convex.  Do  they  not?  The  East 
is  sympathetic  and  has  religion;  the  West  is  intellectual  and  has 
culture;  that  of  course  separates  the  two;  but  as  sympathy 
means  heart,  and  culture  means  brain,  the  two  make  a  complete 
man:  One;  the  Grand  Man,  Adam  Kadmon,  the  Inner  Life.  The 
East  discovered  the  World,  the  great  objective;  the  West  dis- 
covered and  asserted  the  Ego,  Man.  To  the  East,  the  individual 
man  is  vanity  and  must  be  denied.  The  West  declares  that  the 
world  must  be  denied;  but  the  discoverer  in  both  cases  was  In- 
telligence, Mind:  hence  they  meet.  Intelligence,  Mind,  Heart, 
is  the  Inner  Life.  The  essential  point  is  that  we  always  are  on 
the  wing,  like  the  eagle.  The  eagle  is  only  on  the  earth  the 
few  moments  that  Nature  calls.  The  East  does  not  wish  to 
have  any  will  of  its  own;  it  will  not  assert  itself;  self-assertion 
is  in  the  East  a  sin  and  an  illusion.  But  in  the  West  a  man  is 
despised  if  he  stands  for  nothing  and  leaves  no  monument  after 
him.  The  East  and  the  West  here  seem  to  differ  radically.  Do 
they  not?  Yet  these  two  activities  both  meet  in  volition  1  Will 
is  the  name  for  the  core  of  Man :  it  is  the  Inner  Life.  The  essen- 
tial point  is  that  we  have  will,  because  in  the  will  both  activity 
and  passivity  meet;  both  the  objective  and  the  subjective.  The 
East  has  discovered  the  wonderful  truths  and  the  laws  expressed 
by  the  words  Karma  and  Reincarnation.  In  Western  philosoph- 
ical language,  and  to  Philosophy,  the  same  truths  are  known 
under  the  names  of  Necessity,  Determinism,  Cause  and  Effect; 
hence  they  are  not  opposites.  The  real  opposites  as  discovered 
by  the  West  and  thrashed  out  so  thoroughly,  that  there  is  no 
more  life  in  them,  than  in  the  ideas  of  Sin  and  Forgiveness. 
Where  the  East  sees  only  Necessity  and  Law,  the  West  sees  only 
Freedom.  Different  they  seem,  yet  they  are  but  two  sides  of  the 
same  problem:  the  Oriental  is  the  impersonal  method,  the  Oc- 
cidental is  the  personal.  Both  dissolve  in  absolute  truth  and 
remain  as  a  mystery! 

After  all  has  been  said  that  can  be  said,  one  Spirit,  One 
Reality  and  One  Truth  remains,  and  the  main  point  is  that  we 
reach  the  One  Truth — that  is  the  Inner  Life.  And  so  I  might 
continue.  There  is  always  a  middle  Path  which  leads  to  the 
Inner  Life,  a  point  of  consistency  in  which  there  is  no  creed 


THE  TNNEB  LIFE  3 

nor  dogma;  no  East  or  West.  All  mystics,  all  who  are  in  wis- 
dom meet  in  Samadhi,  as  they  call  it  in  the  East;  Contempla- 
tion or  Meditation,  as  they  call  it  in  the  West.  In  Samadhi,  or 
Contemplation,  all  differences  disappear.  Samadhi  or  Contem- 
plation is  the  Inner  Life. 

The  " Inner  Life"  to  the  East  is,  as  I  said,  Samadhi,  and 
to  the  West  Contemplation.  More  closely  defined,  the  Inner 
Life  can  in  Eastern  terms  be  described  as  a  fullness  of  Being, 
an  ecstatic  Bliss  and  a  supreme  Knowledge;  or  in  the  corre- 
sponding Western  terms,  Freedom,  Virtue,  God,  three  terms 
for  forms  of  mind  derived  from  Kant's  philosophy.  In  classical 
thought  they  are  called  the  Good,  the  True,  the  Beautiful. 
But  these  descriptions  will  not  help  a  rationalistic  mind.  In  the 
West,  people  spurn  sentiments,  exalted  perceptions,  transcen- 
dental moods  and  subjective  states.  They  are  considered  va- 
garies, whims  and  signs  of  degeneration.  Negative  Spirits, 
those  of  the  order  of  Mephistopheles,  deny  the  Inner  Life.  To 
them  it  is  identical  with  fancy  and  romance.  Only  positive 
spirits,  those  of  love,  know  it  and  live  it.  Oh !  what  barbarians ! 
Those  of  the  Inner  Life  have  the  same  right  to  use  that  exclama- 
tion as  the  Greeks  of  old  had,  when  they  called  a  foreigner  a 
barbarian.  Oh!  what  barbarians  all  around!  And  yet  the  Ori- 
ental description  of  Samadhi  is  a  marvel  of  expression  to  those 
who  know  the  Inner  Life  from  experience. 

The  peculiarity  with  the  Inner  Life  is  this,  that  it  cannot 
be  made  intelligible  to  those  who  have  not  experienced  some  of 
it.  It  is  experience,  not  idealistic  reason,  that  tells  us  that 
clouds  and  ice  and  steam  are  water.  An  African  under  the 
Equator  who  has  never  seen  ice  cannot  understand  that  water 
may  become  as  hard  as  a  stone.  He  has  had  no  such  experience. 
People  who  live  irrationally  and  in  exterior  things  and  who 
have  never  experienced  anything  else,  deny  the  truth  the  mystics 
tell.  They  are  like  the  fishes  who  did  not  know  water.  You 
know  the  tale?  The  fishes  asked  one  another  what  water  was, 
but  none  could  answer.  Then  one,  wiser  than  the  rest,  said 
he  had  been  told  that  in  the  ocean  lived  a  wise  fish  who  knew 
all,  and  he  proposed  that  some  of  them  travel  to  this  wise  fish 
and  ask  what  water  was.  Aud  so  they  did,  and  the  wise  fish 
answered  them : 

"O  ye  who  seek  to  solve  the  knot! 
Ye  live  in  God,  yet  know  Him  not. 


O  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAOTEH-KING 

Ye  sit  upon  the  river's  brink, 
Yet  crave  in  vain  a  drop  to  drink. 
Ye  dwell  beside  a  boundless  store, 
Yet  perish,  hungry,  at  the  door." 

The  Inner  Life  is  a  "Wisdom  of  the  other  shore"  and  only 
comprehensible  to  those  who  have  crossed  over  the  river  or  have 
sailed  upon  it.  Experience,  not  lecturing,  nor  hearing  a  lecture, 
will  make  it  clear. 

"Measure  not  with  words 
Th'  immeasurable,  nor  sink  the  string  of  thought 
Into  the  fathomless: — who  asks  doth  err, 
Who  answers  errs, — say  naught!" 

''Measure  not  with  words."  The  Inner  life  is  a  "temple  of 
no-thingness";  no  words  can  enter.  In  it  is  understanding,  but 
no  creed.  The  Inner  Life  is  a  bloodless  altar;  its  cup  is  Sam- 
adhi,  or  Contemplation,  and  its  candlestick  is  insight.  The  Inner 
Life  becomes  an  experience  only  to  those  who  know  their  God 
in  the  form  of  mercy,  never  to  those  who  drink  of  the  waters  of 
the  lake  of  the  fourfold  flood,  viz.,  passion,  cleaving  to  life,  false 
views,  ignorance.    Nay — it  is  as  Whittier  puts  it: 

"The  riddle  of  the  world  is  understood 
Only  by  him  who  feels  that  God  is  good, 
As  only  he  can  feel  who  makes  his  love 
The  ladder  of  his  faith,  and  climbs  above 
On  the  rounds  of  his  best  instincts." 

It  is  the  general  lack  of  experience  in  the  higher  life  that 
makes  it  necessary  to  use  such  language  as  I  have  used;  lan- 
guage that  seems  to  deny  my  assertion  that  life  is  one;  language 
that  seems  to  suggest  that  an  impassable  gulf  is  fixed  between 
daily  life  and  the  life  of  the  mystic.  But  it  is  not  so.  There 
is  a  chasm,  certainly,  between  the  two,  but  it  is  not  impassable; 
we  have  evidence  enough  to  believe  the  testimonies  of  those 
who  have  come  to  us  and  told  us  about  that  life.  Life  is  one  and 
the  chasm  is  only  there  for  the  ignorant,  not  for  the  initiate. 

There  are  good  reasons  and  plenty  of  evidence  that  war- 
rants us  in  believing  that  those  who  deny  the  Inner  Life  are 
not  sincere.     A  comprehensive  study  of  the  psychology  of  all 


THE  IN  NEB  LIFE  7 

races,  creeds,  and  ages,  proves  that  all  people  in  all  ages  have 
found  that  man  possesses  certain  high  and  divine  qualities  and 
is  able  to  progress  through  psychic  matters  into  regions  of  the 
Self,  which  seemed  to  be  transcendental.  Moreover,  it  is  a  fact 
that  all  sound  minds  crave  that  inner,  that  immortal  life,  which 
alone  can  give  beauty  to  existence. 

It  can  only  be  called  Satanic,  when  some  moderns  dare  to 
assert  that  the  Inner  Life,  the  mystic  life,  is  a  product  of  dis- 
ease, a  fungus  growth,  a  degeneration.  It  is  Satanic-false !  It 
is  Devilish-evil.  Is  it  possible  that  millions  of  people  have  lived 
and  fed  upon  a  lie  ?  Is  it  possible  that  the  sweet-smelling  flowers 
which  again  and  again  have  refreshed  humanity  were  nothing 
but  poisonous  growth?    Nay!    Nay! 

Gathering  up  the  various  remarks  and  definitions  given,  I 
will  further  illustrate  the  Inner  Life  by  returning  to  my  illus- 
tration, the  bridge  and  its  occult  meaning,  and  thereby  I  come 
still  nearer  to  the  subject.  Coming  in  from  one  end  of  the 
bridge,  the  Middle,  or  the  Inner  Life,  I  spoke  of,  is  seen  as  the 
"Intelligible  World,"  to  use  a  Platonic  term.  The  "intelligible 
world"  is  a  term  that  expresses  the  idea  that  the  world  (Kos- 
mos)  is  intelligible;  can  be  understood  by  Thought;  is  Thought; 
is  over-sensual  or  ideal;  is  reasonable.  And  the  world  is  not 
' '  this, ' '  the  actual,  the  space  and  time  appearance,  but  that  high 
phenomenon  which  appears  to  the  mind  and  never  to  the  senses. 
The  ' '  intelligible  world "  is  a  mental  and  spiritual  influence  that 
corrects  our  understanding,  because  it  is  the  plastic  power  of 
existence,  the  power  that  builds,  the  power  that  upholds  and 
that  teaches  us.  It  is  the  archetypical  perception  of  something 
not  in  space,  yet  present  everywhere.  Something  not  in  time, 
yet  perpetually  moving  everything  else.  Something  not  moved, 
but  the  cause  of  all  movement.  Something  not  measurable,  but 
the  master  of  all  measure.  Something  we  only  perceive  when  we 
abstract  ourselves  from  everything  the  senses  are  related  to; 
which  the  desires  crave,  and  which  end  in  death. 

But  this  Something  which  the  traveler  thus  sees  in  coming 
in  from  the  one  end  of  the  bridge  is  not  an  airy  nothing,  an 
astral  or  unsubstantial  something.  It  is  most  real;  it  is  the 
real  world.  It  is,  still  continuing  the  Platonic  imagery,  (1)  the 
original  world,  viz.,  the  world  in  which  all  things  originate;  (2) 
it  is  the  typical  world,  viz.,  the  world  of  patterns,  motives ;  and 
(3)   the  world  <*f  all  essential  thought  and  consciousness  and 


8  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

reason.  It  is  the  world  of  all  the  ideas  of  eternal  value  that  lie 
back  of  all  high  and  noble  thought  and  action.  Plato  calls  these 
ideals  Universals,  sometimes  Substances,  sometimes  Numbers 
and  sometimes  Living  Powers,  Gods.  Plato  considered  them 
to  be  indefinite  in  number  and  says  they  are  what  philosophy 
speaks  of  as  categories.  The  highest  of  all  ideas  is  the  idea  of 
the  Good- 
Warning  you  against  the  possible  error  of  confounding  the 
4 'Intelligible  World"  with  the  astral  plane,  I  now  want  to  im- 
press upon  you  what  this  walking  in  on  the  bridge  means.  In 
Platonic  language,  it  means  the  opening  of  the  noetic  degree 
of  mind,  the  degree  of  supreme  wisdom  which  means  an  insight 
into  the  divine  mysteries. 

And,  now,  again  further  illustrating  the  Inner  Life  by  re- 
turning to  my  illustration,  the  bridge  and  its  occult  meaning.  I 
will  explain  what  is  seen  in  coming  in  from  the  other  end  of  the 
bridge  and  proceeding  towards  the  Middle.  Here  the  traveler 
is  not  met  by  views,  visions  or  sublime  ideas.  The  traveler  en- 
ters into  an  exalted  condition;  is  transfused  by  sublime  pur- 
poses, and,  gradually,  forgetting  self,  he  is  coming  into  a  trans- 
lated and  celestial  life,  a  condition  of  fulness,  that  excludes  all 
evils,  desires  and  cravings  of  the  sense-man.  The  traveler  is 
not  merely  moving  towards  the  Middle,  but  is  drawn  towards 
it,  and  this  drawing  is  joy  and  triumph.  As  the  traveler  comes 
near  the  Middle,  he  experiences  a  new  energy  and  a  fresh  power, 
a  power  that  comes  from  hitherto  unopened  wells  of  heart  and 
soul.  And  in  that  power,  the  traveler  feels  a  humanity  not 
dreamed  of,  and,  a  divinity  not  even  imagined,  and  a  spiritual 
commerce  between  the  two,  which  opens  all  mysteries  of  good- 
ness, love  and  perfection.    Numerous  mystics  testify  to  that. 

The  Sufi  mystics  speak  not  only  of  traveling  to  God,  but 
also  of  traveling  from  God,  and  by  traveling  from  God,  they 
mean  going  into  the  world  full  of  that  love,  they  have  received, 
and,  distributing  it  into  the  world.  Such  a  traveler  from  God 
was  St.  Francis  with  his  infinite  brother-feeling  extending  to 
the  animals,  and  such  a  traveler  was  Buddha,  and,  such  a  trav- 
eler was  Jesus.  Filled  with  divinity  and  intelligence  larger  than 
their  own,  they  saw  into  the  life  of  things  and  made  all  things 
holy.  The  world  thus  opened  is  an  empire  of  love.  "  Love  feels 
no  burden,  regards  no  labors,  would  willingly  do  more  than  it  is 
able,  pleads  not  impossibility,  because  it  feels  that  it  can  and 
may  do  all  things,"  said  Thomas  a  Kempis.     Lovers  of  souls 


THE  INNER  LIFE  J 

are  the  builders  of  this  empire.  Doers  of  deeds  also  build ;  deeds 
that  touch  barren  hearts  and  refresh  the  sick  and  the  blind.  This 
world  holds  no  altars,  no  sacrificial  fires.  No  Urim  and  Thum- 
min  are  needed  to  cover  the  heart;  the  heart  is  the  Parousia, 
the  Presence,  the  Fulness. 

These,  then,  are  the  two  aspects  of  the  Middle  of  the  bridge 
to  the  Inner  Life,  seen  according  to  the  way  you  enter  the  bridge. 

The  mystic  is  now  suddenly  beyond  intelligence  and  love; 
beyond  good  and  evil;  beyond  East  and  West;  beyond  all  con- 
ceptions and  actions  or  any  other  mental,  moral,  or  spiritual 
state  of  man,  and,  beyond  man  himself.  In  the  Beyond,  on  ' '  the 
other  shore, ' '  there  lies  the  Inner  Life  really,  fully ;  all  the  other 
conditions,  sublime  as  they  are,  are,  after  all,  but  approaches. 

In  Platonic  language,  the  Middle  is  called  the  first  or  fun- 
damental principle,  the  Good.  Ages  and  ages  before  Plato  the 
Middle  was  called  the  Mother-goddess.  But  in  the  West  they  do 
not  say  the  Good,  they  say  God;  and  they  do  not  say  Mother- 
God,  they  say  Father-God,  and  this  change  in  terms  robs  the 
Middle,  the  Inner  Life,  of  its  real  and  sublime  character.  That 
change  in  terms  robs  the  Middle  of  its  life  and  character  and 
makes  it  an  abstraction.  And  the  West  has  paid  heavily  for 
its  mistake.  Preachers  are  now  obliged  to  urge  their  people  ' '  to 
live  the  life,"  "to  be  doers  and  not  hearers,"  and  they  are 
obliged  to  arrange  Revivals,  hoping  thereby  to  quicken  the  peo- 
ple. All  this  decadence  and  decay  of  religion  is  a  result  of  the 
change  from  reality  to  abstraction.  It  must  be  admitted  that 
in  the  East,  the  realistic  conception  of  the  Middle  or  the  Inner 
Life  has  led  to  extremes,  and  crude  materialistic  notions  and 
worships.  The  East  is  as  guilty  as  the  West.  They  are,  how- 
ever, both  redeemed  by  their  Mystics.  Eastern  mystics  and 
Western  mystics  are  the  only  souls  who  have  come  into  true 
and  real  communion  with  the  Middle,  with  the  Inner  Life  and 
into  the  Beyond. 

It  is  not  only  the  name  for  the  Highest  that  has  caused  con- 
fusion, sorrow  and  sin  in  the  religious  world.  There  is  another 
term  and  image  that  has  been  equally  troublesome.  That  term 
is  matter.  What  is  matter?  (1)  As  regards  science  of  to-day, 
it  must  be  confessed  that  it  has  never  seen  matter  nor  weighed 
it,  nor  in  any  way  got  a  real  hold  of  it.  Atoms,  molecules  and 
ions  are  not  matter,  they  are  force;  force  is  all  science  knows 
of.  Consequently,  science  can  give  only  a  negative  answer. 
Science  does  not  know  matter.    In  other  words,  there  is  no  such 


10  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

thing  as  that  commonly  called  matter.  There  is  substance,  how- 
ever, but  that  is  not  matter,  as  commonly  and  ignorantly  sup- 
posed. (2)  The  ancient  people  never  thought  of  matter  in  con- 
nection with  any  physical  science.  Ever  ready  with  pictur- 
esque figures  they  meant  Mother  by  matter.  So  it  is  in  San- 
scrit, so  it  is  in  Greek  and  all  other  languages,  and,  whenever 
philosoi)hers  have  entered  upon  explanations  of  what  that  word 
matter  meant.  The  people  who  spoke  Sanscrit  explained  it  as 
the  Universal  Womb,  as  Space,  as  Aether,  as  the  Measurer  of 
the  Firmament.  They  talked  eloquently  of  the  Divine  Mothers 
where  we  moderns  speak  weakly  about  centers  of  evolution, 
centers  of  force.  The  Mothers,   says  Proclus,  were  /wnjrw 

(mestetes),  "middles,"  and  "possess  mighty  power  in  the  uni- 
verse." Pythagoreans  called  them  "towers  of  Jupiter."  Nu- 
merous other  terms  are  known. 

Matter  then  means  generation;  and  note  this:  to  all  the 
ancient  people  and  to  all  to  whom,  nowadays,  matter  means 
Mother,  matter  is  never  to  be  spurned  or  overcome.  Matter  to 
them  was  and  is  the  most  glorious  term  they  know  of  for  what 
others  call  God.  This,  then,  is  one  signification  of  "matter," 
and  it  is  the  correct  meaning  of  the  word,  when  used  by  mystics. 

But  matter  has  also  another  significance,  and  you  will  see 
it  when  I  tell  you  that  a  Greek,  Anaximander,  about  600  B.  C, 
introduced  the  term  &pxt  (arke)  as  a  term  and  designation  for  the 
first  and  fundamental  principle,  and  as  a  substitute  for  Mother. 
But  &pxt  is  a  colorless  and  anaemic  term  that  stands  for  an 
abstract  conception.  Really  we  cannot  object  to  Anaximander 
and  his  term;  they  were  both  Greek  and  both  idealistic.  But 
now  comes  the  point,  now  you  shall  see  where  trouble  arose. 
Aristotle,  about  340  B.  C,  who  understood  i-px-h  to  mean  merely 
a  formative  and  empty  principle  and  not  reality,  wished  to  de- 
stroy it  because  it  had  become  a  power  in  Platonism,  which  he 
criticised.  He  therefore  placed  over  against  it  another  term 
to  counterbalance  it  and  to  contradict  it.  That  term  was  i\j 
which  means  chaos;  it  is  a  realistic  term,  which  means  "mud," 
viz.,  a  sort  of  general  mixture  of  tangible  elements.  It  is  this 
conception  of  chaos,  of  mud,  that  has  come  down  to  us,  while 
the  conception  Mother  has  been  forgotten.  It  is  jJM,  chaos,  mud, 
and  since  Aristotle's  time  materialism,  moral  baseness,  we  are 
bid  in  mystic  life  to  overcome.  We  are  not  bid  to  deny  the 
Mother.  In  addition  to  the  Aristotelian  conception  of  imper- 
fection, confusion  and  low  quality,  that  word  Matter  has  aJsc 


THE  INNER  LIFE  11 

by  Christian  philosophy  become  the  bearer  of  all  ideas  of  moral 
impurity,  defects,  sins  and  baseness.  These,  too,  the  mystic 
candidate  must  shun.  Aristotle  and  Christianity  have  certainly 
conferred  a  benefit  upon  us  by  the  invention  of  a  new  term  and 
the  clear  sense  they  gave  that  term,  but  the  pity  is,  that  all  kinds 
of  fanatics,  ascetics,  and  pseudo-philosophers  have  completely 
forced  the  idea  of  Mother  out  of  the  common  understanding  and 
existence,  and,  that  that,  which  is  to  be  overcome,  that  which  is 
the  outer,  and,  thus  diametrically  opposed  to  inner,  is  called 
matter.  It  ought  to  be  called  something  else  and  is  so  called  by 
mystics. 

Can  this  Inner  Life  be  lived  in  a  workaday  world  like  ours? 
This  is  a  question  constantly  asked,  and  I  constantly  answer, 
Yes !  most  emphatically.  It  can  be  lived  and  is  lived.  Life  is  not 
a  snare.    I  shall  in  future  chapters  enter  more  fully  upon  this. 

How  to  reach  the  Inner  Life?  I  have  already  used  as  illus- 
tration: the  bridge,  and  two  persons  passing  over  it  from  op- 
posite ends.  I  will  continue  the  use  of  that  illustration.  It  is  a 
good  one — that  which  in  mystic  life  is  called  the  Path.  I  will 
now  say  that  one  end  of  the  bridge  is  called  Silence,  the  other 
Solitude,  and  that  the  Middle  is  called  the  True  Self.  Now 
listen !    Let  me  read  you  a  poem  full  of  suggestion : 

"We  sat  together  in  the  afterglow 
And  talked  of  earth's  old  mystery  of  pain; 
Of  wasted  toil,  of  love  and  anguish  vain, 
Of  little  children  born  to  helpless  woe. 
We  talked  until  life  seemed  like  a  hideous  show, 
And  men  but  slaves  under  the  cruel  reign 
Of  a  blind  god,  their  prayers  could  not  restrain. 
— Then  we  sat  silent ; 

— on  the  rocks  below, 

The  careless  mountain  stream  foamed  at  our  feet; 
Above  the  dark  pine's  silhouette  hung  fair, 
One  star,  in  whose  calm  radiance  earth's  despair 
Seemed  childish  outcry ; — life  grew  sane  and  sweet ; 
For  nature's  brooding  peace  was  everywhere, 
And  love  eternal  through  her  pulses  beat." 
— Marion  Pruyn,  in  New  England  Magazine,  June,  1897. 

See  the  bridge  ?    ' '  We  sat  silent ' ' ! 


12  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

The  first  part  of  this  poem  has  very  likely  been  the  experi- 
ence of  many  in  this  room,  and  perhaps  that  line,  ' '  Then  we  sat 
silent,"  has  also  been  the  experience  and  has  had  its  natural 
sequence  in  peace  and  quiet,  in  which  ''life  grew  sane  and 
sweet."  If  that  has  been  your  experience,  have  you  reflected 
upon  this,  that  it  was  the  silence  that  fell  upon  you,  that  brought 
sanity  and  sweetness  ?  It  was  silence  that  brought  redemption ; 
not  talk,  not  bitterness  that  did  it ;  not  criticisms  of  facts  of  life 
misunderstood,  not  a  negative  spirit  ivo^a;  bitter  criticism  is  the 
sin  of  the  world  to-day.  Sanity  and  sweetness  came  when  the 
ravens  of  restless  thought  had  ceased  their  cawings;  ravens, 
rooks,  crows  and  jackdaws  bring  no  peace;  they  mean  putre- 
faction, and  so  does  bitter,  senseless  talk.  Scepticism  is  not  the 
true  beginning  of  philosophy.  The  true  beginning  lies  in  the 
recognition  of  this,  "Be  still  and  know  that  I  am  God"  (Ps.  46, 
10),  and  in  learning  to  commune  with  our  own  hearts. 

I  will  now  say  something  about  Silence  and  Solitude,  and 
these  two  words  will  be  the  portals,  through  which,  not  by  which, 
the  Inner  Life  will  appear  in  some  of  its  majesty  and  beauty. 
It  will  appear  that  Silence  discovers  or  unveils  the  Individual 
Self,  and  that  Solitude  discovers  or  unveils  Universal  Self. 

What  is  meant  by  Silence? 

Negatively,  the  word  means  "to  shut  up,"  to  cease  talking. 
Mysticism  in  its  Greek  root  means  to  shut  up,  to  close  up.  Mere 
silence  is  of  course  useless.  Mutes  are  not  on  the  Path,  because 
they  are  not  able  to  talk.  Positively,  Silence  is  the  quiescence 
of  a  perfectly  ordered  fulness,  viz.,  after  we  have  become  liter- 
ally silent,  the  fulness  of  life  asserts  itself  as  never  otherwise. 
Again,  in  silence,  there  is  a  positive  realization  of  the  power  of 
presence.  A  presence,  to  some,  of  Beauty :  an  awakening  within 
of  an  Ideal,  longed  for,  though  forgotten.  A  Beauty,  proud  and 
austere,  yet  revealing  an  immortal  face;  a  Beauty  that  lifts  our 
longings  into  lovely  dreams  and  the  white  flames  of  ecstacy. 
To  others,  Silence  is  like  the  edge  of  the  day  when  the  dawn 
slides  slowly  along  the  tops  of  the  pines,  and  they  feel  a  new 
energy  awaken  in  them,  an  energy  in  which  they  feel,  that  they 
hold  the  worlds  in  the  hollow  of  their  hands.  To  others,  Silence 
holds  the  highest  Wisdom  borne  by  the  rhythmic  currents  that 
permeate  space.  The  world  calls  it  inspiration.  Others  hear  the 
divine  thunder:  "Be  still,  and  know  that  I  am  God,"  and  they 
go  forth  as  prophets  of  the  Most  High,  as  witnesses  for  the  sov- 
ereign of  the  Past,  the  Present  and  the  Future.    "In  silence  we 


THE  INNEB  LITE  13 

become  each  moment  what  God  already  is."  Ah,  how  shall  I 
tell  those  that  have  not  experienced  it  what  silence  is?  Those 
who  know  it,  understand  me.  My  words  can  be  only  like  the 
ringing  of  bells. 

By  Silence  we  come  into  the  true  life,  into  our  right  place, 
and  the  immortal  life  reigns.  We  discover  our  individual  self. 
In  Silence  our  normal  nature  asserts  itself  and  we  live;  we  do 
not  merely  think  or  act,  we  live,  something  so  utterly  foreign, 
that  the  modern  culture-man  does  not  know  what  it  is,  neither 
does  he  understand  it. 

What  is  it  to  live?  It  is  to  experience  an  intensity  which 
fully  balances  the  immensity  of  the  objective  world.  Full  of 
that  intensity,  that  insight,  we  bear  up  against  any  adversity 
like  a  thunderstorm,  which  always  goes  against  the  wind.  Full 
of  that  intensity  and  this  insight,  there  can  be  no  ascetic  dissi- 
pation of  the  eternal  fires  that  lie  at  the  root  of  the  soul.  That 
intensity,  that  insight,  is  the  synthesis  of  all  the  powers  we  can 
conceive,  and  we  live  neither  in  fancy,  speculation  nor  in  false 
assertion  of  self.  We  are  one  with  existence,  as  that  murmurs 
in  the  forest  and  sighs  in  the  wave  and  illumines  the  mountain 
top  and  cries  on  the  tongue  of  the  new-born  baby  or  breathes  in 
lovers'  amorous  talk  or  shouts  in  archangel's  Halleluyah!  This 
intensity,  this  insight,  is  synthetic;  it  is  all  in-clusive,  not  ex- 
clusive. It  will  not  recognize  the  theological  distinction  of  saints 
and  sinners  to  have  any  eternal  value.  To  it,  life  is  one.  It 
will  not  lament  on  account  of  the  ragged  edges  of  sorrow,  nor 
will  it  merely  rejoice  in  victory.  All  antagonism,  cold  as 
morning  chill  or  deadly  as  night  malaria,  is  dissolved  into  the 
colors  of  the  rainbow  of  Hope.  That  intensity  is  an  assertion 
of  Soul  and  Immortality.  It  is  a  realization  of  Genius,  and  the 
Over-man.    This  was  the  one  end  of  the  bridge — Silence ! 

Now  let  us  pass  in  from  the  other  end,  Solitude.  The  word 
Solitude  means  exactly  what  its  originator  meant  it  to  stand  for. 
It  means  that  when  ' '  things ' '  have  been  taken  away  or  removed, 
there  then  remains  something  "alone,"  and  that  something  is 
the  Ego.    Solitude  means  that  the  Ego  is  alone  with  itself. 

Do  not  consider  loneliness  and  lonesomeness  as  synonymous 
terms  and  conceptions.  A  lonely  life  is  a  forlorn,  sad  and  for- 
saken existence;  it  is  solitary  and  lacking  the  soul's  craving  for 
a  companion.  A  lonely  life  is  usually  the  result  of  conflicts  with 
societary  order  or  a  result  of  sickness.  It  is  abnormal  and  de- 
fective.   Lonesomeness,  on  the  contrary,  is  most  desirable  for 


14  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

strong  souls.  It  means  seclusion  from  the  rabble  and  the  multi- 
tudinousness  of  daily  life.  It  imparts  the  idea  of  terror  to  some, 
to  those,  namely,  who  are  so  little  self-centered  that  they  must 
always  lean  upon  somebody.  But  lonesomeness  is  not  terrible 
or  distressing;  on  the  contrary,  the  wise  seek  it  as  an  antidote 
against  dismay  and  find  it  to  be  a  tutelar  divinity.  All  who  seek 
the  roots  of  life  dig  in  solitude  for  them.  The  "second  birth" 
is  in  solitude.  The  "twice-born"  enjoy  solitude.  It  would  be 
well  for  many  if  they  at  least  could  retreat  to  a  "quiet  room," 
like  Whittier's: 

"I  find  it  well  to  come 
For  deeper  rest  to  this  still  room ; 
For  here  the  habit  of  the  soul 
Feels  less  the  outer  world's  control. 
And  from  silence  multiplied 
By  these  still  forms  on  every  side, 
The  world  that  time  and  sense  have  known 
Falls  off,  and  leaves  us  God  alone." 

Yes,  Solitude  is  a  state  or  condition  so  sublime  in  character 
that  I  may  say:  Solitude  is  God's  secret  meeting  place  with  the 
soul.    Solitude  is  as  Lenau  put  it,  "The  Mother  of  God  in  man." 

The  "twice-born"  man  comes  out  of  Solitude,  not  out  at  a 
whist  party  or  from  a  ball.  In  Solitude  arise  all  those  images 
from  our  past  existences  which  in  this  present  noisy  and  pas- 
sionate earth-life  have  sunk  to  the  bottom.  In  Solitude  there 
is  that  which  Plato  called  d^^u  (anamnesis),  " Beminiscence, " 
a  recovery  of  all  past  experiences;  a  fact  of  the  uttermost 
importance  in  our  psychic  life,  and,  a  fact  that  gives  great  com- 
fort; we  know  that  we  live  not  in  vain  even  if  present  condi- 
tions are  antagonistic.  We  shall  reap  the  fruits  of  all  our  labors, 
all  our  hopes,  longings  and  tears. 

In  Solitude  arise  not  only  our  own  endeavors  in  and  towards 
the  greater  Life,  but  also  the  spectra  of  all  the  volitions,  good 
and  bad,  that  filled  our  surroundings  while  we  lived  in  the  past, 
as  well  as  the  images  of  cosmic  life.  "Whatever  we  lost  in  our 
studies,  the  visions  of  which  we  do  not  understand,  the  beauties 
we  failed  to  perceive,  all,  all  are  again  available,  are  again  to 
be  enjoyed,  are  again  to  be  studied;  and  they  all  come  back  in  a 
clarified  condition  and  full  of  an  imperial  power  they  never  be- 
fore possessed. 


THE  INNER  LIFE  15 

You  can  readily  see  the  rationale  of  this.  They  have  been 
stripped  naked  of  all  the  incidental  and  trivial  and  their  burning 
fire.  In  utter  nakedness  they  stand  before  us  and  call  for  life. 
By  giving  them  life  they  become  souls,  and,  we  become  prophets, 
artists,  poets,  musicians ! 

Oh,  the  glorious  Solitude !  Oh,  take  solitude  and  let  every- 
thing else  go!  Pay  the  price.  Do  you  remember  Goethe's  con- 
fession? 

"Who  never  ate  his  bread  with  tears, 
Nor  through  the  sorrow-laden  hours 
Sat  nightly  face  to  face  with  fears, 
He  knows  you  not,  ye  heavenly  powers. ' ' 

The  "heavenly  powers"  here  spoken  of,  are  those  of  soli- 
tude. But  these  very  powers  are  the  ones  that  made  great  men 
great.  The  pay  was  none  too  heavy !  They  made  Goethe  great ! 
These  powers  of  solitude  and  the  ordeal  we  pass  through  in  soli- 
tude brings  us  face  to  face  with  "the  Great  Alone"  and  our 
Genius ;  nothing  else  does  it. 

In  solitude  none  of  the  five  senses  work.  They  are  merely 
doors  through  which  the  soul  passes  in  and  out;  in  to  itself, 
and  out  into  nature.  What  I  want  to  emphasize  is  this :  in  soli- 
tude, we  are  neither  subjective  nor  objective ;  we  root  in  neither 
extreme;  we  are  reflective.  We  are  reflective,  I  say;  we  do  not 
reflect  or  think;  nay,  the  Universal,  be  it  the  Good  or  the  Beauti- 
ful, finds  its  true  expression  through  us.  In  solitude  we  have 
neither  ears  nor  eyes;  we  are  perceptive,  however!  Do  you 
perceive  the  difference?  We  do  not  have  senses,  we  are  the 
essential  of  sense.  In  solitude  we  are  not  in  manifoldness,  we 
are  in  unity.  These  images  become  the  expressions  for  what  I 
call  reconciliation,  which  sets  us  free.  Here  you  have  in  a  nut- 
shell the  whole  psychology  of  Solitude. 

See  that  the  emphasis  lies  upon  the  withdrawing  from  ex- 
ternals, from  tools,  from  means,  to  essentials !  This  withdrawal 
must  be  thoroughly  understood,  otherwise  we  shall  misjudge  and 
perhaps  reject  the  teachings  of  the  mystics  about  "overcoming" 
and  "self-conquest." 

This  subject  is  the  main  element  in  all  intelligent  life,  be  it 
religious,  artistic  or  mystic. 

Xo  hmnan  being  attains  freedom  without  passing  through 
this  psychic  furnace. 


16  THE  INNEB  LEPB  AND  THB  TAO-TEH-KING 

No  human  being  can  ever  create  any  monumental  work  with- 
out initiation  in  this  temple. 

No  human  being,  who  has  not  worshipped  at  this  shrine  and 
there  been  baptized  in  fire  and  by  spirit,  can  ever  understand 
that  myriad  named  power  which  we  see  in  Nature,  Beauty,  Good- 
ness and  everywhere  else. 

Now,  in  conclusion,  examine  for  yourself  and  see  if  I  have 
spoken  the  truth.  If  I  have  spoken  the  truth,  it  conforms  to  (1) 
the  method  of  nature ;  (2)  to  the  constitution  of  the  human  mind; 
and  (3)  to  the  testimonies  of  the  Scriptures  as  they  have  been 
handed  down  from  age  to  age. 


w 


THE  INNER  LIFE 
II. 

ALT  WHITMAN,  our  neglected  poet,  wrote : 

"Surely,  whoever  speaks  to  me  in  the  right  voice 
Him  or  her  I  shall  follow 
As  the  water  follows  the  moon  silently 
With  fluid  steps  anywhere  around  the  Globe." 


And  he  continues  in  the  same  poem  (' 'Voices") : 

"I  believe  all  wait  for  the  right  voices, 

I  see  brains  and  lips  closed — tympans  and  temples  unstruck, 
Until  that  comes  which  has  the  quality  to  strike  and  to  unclose, 
Until  that  comes  which  has  the  quality  to  bring  forth 
What  lies  slumbering,  forever  ready,  all  in  words." 

Like  Whitman  we  all  wait  to  hear  the  right  voice. 

Where  is  that  voice  to  be  heard?  The  voice  that  can  wake 
"what  lies  slumbering,"  where  can  it  be  heard f  This  sentence, 
"what  lies  slumbering,"  means  a  great  deal;  much  more  than  its 
shortness  would  suggest.  That  which  lies  "slumbering"  and 
which  is  to  be  awakened  is  our  most  essential  nature.  It  is  slum- 
bering, viz.,  it  is  unknown  to  ourselves  and  to  others.  It  is  living 
in  the  innocence  of  a  fool 's  paradise  and  in  untried  peace.  The 
voices  awaken  it  to  activity  and  to  thought.  The  awakening  is 
sometimes  painful  and  is  followed  by  many  trials.  We  enter 
upon  the  Path  at  the  awakening.  It  is  the  awakening  of  the  right 
voice  that  makes  the  difference  between  one  man  and  another 
and  which  gives  us  any  value.  That  is  what  happens  normally. 
The  "right  voice"  may  also  speak  to  us  while  we  are  in  confusion 
or  perhaps  evil.  It  is  then  an  awakener  in  another  sense.  Of 
that  I  shall  not  speak  at  present. 


18  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  TKE  TAO-TEH-KING 

I  will  show  you  two  pictures.  Be  not  surprised  that  I  call 
them  voices.  I  have  good  authority  for  it.  Philo-Judaus,  in 
most  of  his  knowledge  a  good  theosophist,  and  he  had  the  Heb- 
rew Scriptures  as  his  authority,  says  that  Nature  is  the  language 
in  which  God  speaks, ' '  but  there  is  this  difference,  that  while  the 
human  voice  is  made  to  be  heard,  the  voice  of  God  is  made  to  be 
seen;  what  God  says  consists  of  acts,  not  of  words."1 

Let  me  show  you  a  picture  by  the  Japanese  painter,  Okio. 
It  represents  a  sunrise  on  the  coast  of  Japan.  All  you  see  is  a 
long  line  of  surf  tumbling  in  towards  you  from  out  a  bank  of 
mist ;  you  see  the  blood-red  disk  of  the  rising  sun,  and  over  the 
narrow  strip  of  breaking  rollers  three  cranes  are  slowly  sailing 
north.  You  do  not  see  the  shore  nor  the  ocean  itself,  it  lies  still 
sleeping  under  the  mist ;  you  see  only  the  borderland  of  the  great 
unknown,  the  breakers,  the  sun  and  the  cranes.  The  picture  is  so 
simple  that  it  would  not  appeal  to  most  people.  But  it  contains 
the  whole  philosophy  of  the  Tao-Teh-King  of  which  I  shall  speak 
in  the  following  chapters. 

You  have  perhaps  seen  such  a  scene  on  an  early  morning. 
I  have  seen  it  (minus  the  cranes,  to  be  sure),  right  outside  New 
York,  where  the  Atlantic  washes  New  Jersey's  low,  sandy  shores. 
The  view  is  weird,  to  say  the  least.  It  makes  a  desolate  shore 
look  more  desolate  and  strikes  you  painfully  at  first.  In  melan- 
choly you  begin  to  realize  that  you  have  before  you  a  picture  of 
life.  A  vast  unknown  and  a  misty  immensity  envelops  you,  in 
which  you  perceive  only  the  heaving  breath  of  the  ocean  as  of  a 
mighty  monster,  perhaps  dangerous.  The  breakers  speak  in  un- 
known tongues  and  the  cranes  represent  the  eternal  cry  of  the 
human  soul  for  rest.  And  really,  such  is  life  in  one  of  its 
aspects,  the  most  dreadful  one!  What  a  blessing  that  the  ma- 
jority of  people  do  not  even  suspect  the  truth !  Only  strong  souls 
and  initiates  are  allowed  to  behold  the  mystery  and  to  see  that 
we  are  surrounded  by  just  such  uncertainty — Uncertainty!.  The 
Inner  Life  begins  in  such  realizations.  It  cannot  begin  in  any 
other  way.  Yet  such  a  negative  beginning  is  most  fruitful.  All 
the  entangling  meshes  of  a  complex  life  are  hindrances. 

The  Inner  Life  is,  first  of  all,  simplicity;  that  is,  it  is  un- 
mixed, homogeneous.  Hear  a  legend.  In  the  glorious  days  of 
chivalry,  there  was  a  knight  brave  and  bold, but  stupid  as  regards 
learning.  He  never  learned  more  of  the  "Ave  Maria"  than  the 
words  "Hail,  Mary  blessed  among  women,"  but  these  words  he 

'Works.     English  trans,  vol.  2,  "Art.  on  Abraham." 


THE  INNEB  LIFE  19 

repeated  always,  in  time  and  out  of  time.  When  he  died  it  was 
discovered  that  lilies  sprouted  from  his  grave,  and  upon  opening 
the  grave  it  was  found  that  the  lilies  grew  upon  his  tongue! 
Sancta  Simplicitas!  Simple  enough!  Who  would  follow  him? 
Yet  the  legend  contains  eternal  truth.  A  life  in  simplicity  is  a 
free  life,  a  life  not  in  bondage  either  to  desire  or  the  objects  of 
desire,  or  blurred  by  intellectual  smoke.  A  life  in  simplicity  has 
eliminated  even  the  perspectives  of  the  landscape,  and  stands 
like  Fudji-no-yama  with  the  head  above  the  clouds.  A  life  in 
simplicity  is  a  strong  life,  and  ignores  the  clouds  that  thunder 
and  lighten  around  its  breast,  and,  it  stands  firmly  on  the  rock- 
ribbed  cosmos. 

It  lies  so  near  for  anyone  that  may  have  been  awakened  by 
hearing  about  such  a  life,  to  imitate  that  which  has  been  seen  or 
heard,  or  follow  some  teacher  who  promises  a  short  cut  to  the 
ideals.  I  would  warn  such.  I  would  not  have  anyone  copy 
another  who  has  lived  that  life.  I  would  have  you  know  it  from 
your  own  experience.  The  Inner  Life  is  original.  I  warn  all 
that  "new  trees  cannot  be  made  of  flowers  old  ones  bore,"  and, 
that  one  must  not  lay  withered  flowers  as  offering  upon  the  altar. 
We  live  in  a  new  age,  and  the  Inner  Life  for  us  must  be  lived  on 
new  lines.  It  must  be,  first,  natural  or  true  to  facts ;  secondly,  it 
must  be  human,  viz.,  not  ascetic;  thirdly,  it  must  conform  to  all 
the  best  results  of  the  lives  lived  by  Mystics  and  Theosophists 
in  the  past.  The  Inner  Life  is  an  original  life  and  mankind  to- 
day is  in  as  bad  a  way  as  it  is  because  there  has  been  copying, 
imitations.  Teachers  and  leaders  have  taken  their  gifts  in  vain 
and  sold  them  for  money,  and  smothered  their  own  consciences 
by  the  belief  that  they  did  mankind  good  by  making  it  follow 
them  and  by  making  it  copy  their  methods.  They  conferred  no 
blessing;  they  hampered  the  inner  life  not  only  in  their  followers, 
but  in  themselves.  I  need  not  mention  examples ;  church  history 
is  full  of  them.  Prophets  turning  autocrats,  leaders  becoming 
tyrants  and  heavenly  meetings  ending  in  hell,  are  painted  only 
too  frequently  in  history.  If  I  were  offered  a  high  seat  in 
Heaven  for  organizing  a  mystic  or  Inner  Life  society,  I  would 
refuse  it.  The  freedom  of  a  soul  is  worth  more  than  Heaven. 
The  Inner  Life  is  original.  It  rests  on  no  authority.  The  study 
and  exercise  of  the  Inner  Lifp  must  be  as  new  and  as  fresh  as 
the  morning  that  breaks  in  upon  that  shore  in  Okio's  painting, 
and  shine  in  its  own  light  as  the  sun  does  in  the  morning;  every 
morning  greeting  the  mists  anew  and  inviting  the  cranes  to  rise. 


20  THE  INNBB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

And  every  soul  that  aspires  to  initiation  must  stand  there  where 
it  sees  no  shore,  but  only  breakers  and  the  long  indefinite  line  of 
possibilities. 

I  will  have  no  man  or  woman  cling  to  another's  thought,  be- 
cause ' '  a  thought  that  once  has  been  thought,  no  man  can  think 
once  more."  The  Inner,  or  the  Mystic,  Life  must  be  and  is 
original ;  viz.,  it  is  a  new  beginning ;  it  is  fresh  from  the  Original ; 
it  is  something  that  never  was  before,  either  as  light,  or  as  power, 
or  motion;  it  is  a  new  opening  into  the  sanctuary  of  the  Most 
High ;  it  raises  the  curtain  to  new  loves  and  is  the  genesis  of  new 
born  worlds.  A  true  mystic,  or  spiritually  minded  person,  one 
who  lives  the  Inner  Life,  avoids  all  kinds  of  ' '  systems, ' '  be  they 
philosophical,  theological,  ethical,  or  anything  else.  He  seeks 
what  the  Tao-Teh-King  calls  Wu-Wei,  and  Wu-Wei  is  taught  by 
the  seashore  of  Okio  's  painting.  The  more  consistent,  the  more 
logical  the  systems  appear,  the  more  they  are  to  be  shunned. 
Their  very  consistency  proves  their  lack  of  life  and  spirit.  Any 
and  all  systems,  be  they  mystic,  theosophic,  or  handed  down  by 
angels  or  otherwise,  are  only  views  obtained  from  one  of  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  bridge  of  life.  The  middle  lies  equally  remote 
from  either  end,  and  the  middle  is  the  Truth.  Of  that  I  spoke  at 
length  lately.  Life  is  too  rich  and  too  full  to  be  forced  into  a 
Procustes'  bed  of  thought,  no  matter  whose  thought  or  will  it 
happens  to  be.  History  bears  witness  to  all  I  say  on  this  subject, 
and,  so  does  Nature.  Go  into  any  garden  and  you  shall  see  for 
yourself  and  hear  the  old  Mother  Nature  laugh  at  you  and  your 
ideas  when  you  want  to  force  her.  Your  ideas  are  not  hers.  She 
does  not  work  by  * '  system. ' '      She  is  Herself. 

We  ought  to  analyze  into  the  mysteries  of  the  New  Life  that 
to-day  surges  upon  the  shore  of  existence.  The  New  Age  People 
follow  the  Stream  and  they  never  think  of  commanding  the  waves 
of  the  ocean  to  respect  the  royal  feet,  as  did  King  Canut  of  Den- 
mark.   What  do  the  waves  care  about  royal  feet? 

In  addition  to  that  which  I  already  have  said  about  Okio's 
painting,  I  want  to  say  that  the  main  lesson  I  would  point  out 
in  it,  is  this :  In  it  there  is  no  clamor,  no  striving  of  the  senses, 
no  lusts,  no  unreal  thoughts.  It  is  Wu-Wei,  or  the  simplicity  of 
life;  or  as  the  Tao-Teh-King  calls  it,  relaxation  from  earthly 
activity;  the  simple  beauty  of  life  flowing  as  of  itself  like  a  river 
according  to  inner  law,  but  not  striving  in  its  own  will.  The 
painting  is  a  prayer  for  stillness;  that  voice  which  resounds 
everywhere  in  Nature,  and  everywhere  with  Nature's  passionate 


THE  INNER  LIFE  21 

intensity.  And  that  voice  is ''the  right  voice"  to  all.  It  speaks 
always  about  mystery.  Mystery  is  but  another  name  for  ab- 
solute truth,  for  Originality! 

Now  let  me  show  you  another  picture  and  ask  you  to  listen 
to  another  voice. 

I  have  a  picture  to  show  quite  as  powerful  as  that  of  Okio 
and  you  shall  hear  a  voice  from  the  abyss  as  rich  as  that  in  the 
Japanese  painting.  I  shall  quote  a  poet,  who  ought  to  be  the 
banner  bearer  for  Theosophists  with  poetic  veins.  I  mean  him 
who  understood  so  well  the  occult  there  is  in  the  landscape : 

' '  The  silence  that  is  in  the  starry  sky, 
The  sleep  that  is  in  the  lonely  hills," 

and  who  realized  more  powerfully  than  anybody  else  that 

"The  meanest  flower  that  blows  can  bring 
Thoughts  that  do  often  lie  too  deep  for  tears." 

I  mean  Wordsworth,  to  whom  nature  was  no  puzzling  me- 
chanism, but  a  luminous  organism,  a  personal  influx.  Words- 
worth, of  whom  Shelley  said  he  had  awakened  "a  kind  of  thought 
in  sense";  Wordsworth,  to  whom  a  sunrise  was  the  time  of 
spiritual  consecration ;  Wordsworth,  who  liked  to  stand 

"Beneath  some  rock,  listening  to  notes  that  are 
The  ghostly  language  of  ancient  earth;" 

Wordsworth,  who  had  communed  with 

"Nature's  self,  which  is  the  breath  of  God." 

I  shall  read  to  you  a  short  passage  from  the  first  book  of  the 
"Excursion."  I  am  very  fond  of  it.    It  is  a  voice  that  speaks 

"      ....     truths  that  wake 
To  perish  never, — 

Which  neither  listlessness  nor  mad  endeavor, 
Nor  all  that  is  at  enmity  with  joy, 


Can  utterly  abolish  or  destroy." 


22 


THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 


This  is  the  passage : 

" .     .     .     .     for  the  growing  youth 
What  soul  was  his,  when,  from  the  naked  top 
Of  some  bold  headland,  beheld  the  sun 
Rise  up,  and  bathe  the  world  in  light?  He  looked — 
The  solid  frame  of  earth 
And  ocean's  liquid  mass,  in  gladness  lay 
Beneath  him : — Far  and  wide  the  clouds  were  touched 
And  in  their  silent  faces  could  he  read 
Unutterable  love.   Sound  needed  none, 
Nor  any  voice  of  joy;  his  spirit  drank 
The  spectacle :  Sensation,  soul  and  form, 
All  melted  into  him ;  they  swallowed  up 
His  animal  being ;  in  them  did  he  live, 
And  by  them  did  he  live ;  they  were  his  life. — 
In  such  access  of  mind,  in  such  high  hour 
Of  visitation  from  the  living  God, 
Thought  was  not ;  in  enjoyment  it  expired. 
No  thanks  he  breathed ;  he  prof  erred  no  request ; 
Rapt  into  still  communion  that  transcends 
The  imperfect  offices  of  prayer  and  praise, 
His  mind  was  a  thanksgiving  to  the  power 
That  made  him;  it  was  blessedness  and  love!" 

This  is 

' '  An  Ohphic  song  indeed, 
A  song  divine,  of  light  and  passionate  thoughts, 
To  their  own  music  chanted, " 

as  Coleridge  wrote  the  night  after  he  had  heard  "The  Prelude." 
It  is  a  voice  that  speaks  without  sound;  a  voice  that  does  away 
with  the  animal  being;  a  voice  that  does  not  need  thought  for 
translation;  it  is  immediate;  without  means  it  transfigures  sensa- 
tion, soul  and  form.  In  rapt  communion  the  soul  transcends 
both  prayer  and  praise,  and,  becomes  blessedness  and  love;  be- 
comes one  with  glory,  one  with  nature.  In  "The  Prelude"  where 
Wordsworth  sings  of  another  magnificent  morning,  he  confesses : 

"My  heart  was  full ;  I  made  no  vows,  but  vows 
Were  then  made  for  me ;  bond  unknown  to  me 
Was  given,  that  I  should  be,  else  sinning  greatly, 
A  dedicated  Spirit." 


THE  INNER  LIFE  23 

How  mean  does  not  the  every-day  treadmill  seem  in  the 
light  of  such  solemn  experiences?  And  how  contemptible  the 
waste  most  people  are  guilty  of ;  they  waste  the  golden  moments 
in  bed  and  neglect  the  morning  on  the  mount.  Hence  they  do 
not  expand  and  know  not  its  beatitudes.  A  traveller  once  asked 
a  Hopi  Indian,  whom  he  saw  praying  half  an  hour  as  he  stood 
at  his  door  looking  over  the  mesa,  what  he  said.  The  Indian  an- 
swered : ' '  Nothing ! ' '  He  said  nothing — but  something  filled  him. 
What?  the  Great  Spirit  filled  him  with  bright  presence  and  a 
calm  sank  down  into  his  heart ;  a  calm  in  which  he  perceived  the 
eternal,  and  the  horizon  of  his  heart  widened.  He  felt  some- 
thing akin  to  himself.  And  such  is  true  prayer.  He  heard  ' '  the 
right  voice." 

Now,  you  have  heard  what  Whitman  called  "the  right 
voice,"  and  these  two,  Wordsworth  and  the  Indian,  who  "fol- 
lowed as  the  water  follows  the  moon  silently";  Wordsworth,  the 
man  from  the  sea  of  the  nations,  and  the  Indian,  the  power  of  the 
mountain  fastness  and  the  Open.  Do  you  know  the  soul  of  either 
of  these?  or  their  experiences?  Did  you  ever  go  out  into  the 
free,  the  Open,  where  "the  right  voices"  may  be  heard?  or  did 
you  fear  and  hide  in  the  great  city  with  its  confusion  of  tongues, 
or,  did  you,  perhaps,  lose  the  key  to  your  own  heart? 

Hear  "the  right  voice": 

"Love  thy  God,  and  love  Him  only, 
And  thy  breast  will  ne'er  be  lonely. 

In  that  One  Great  Spirit  meet 

All  things — mighty,  grave  and  sweet. 

Mortal,  love  that  Holy  One, 
Or,  dwell  forever  alone — alone!" 

It  is  not  necessary  that  you  or  I  should  retire  to  the  jungle, 
the  hermit's  cell, or  forsake  kith  and  kin,in  order  to  listen  to  "the 
right  voice."  Nay — the  sea,  the  mountain,  and  your  own  heart, 
speak  in  the  right  voice,  if  we  but  listen.  The  sea  and  the  moun- 
tain we  have  always  with  us.  Every  woman  is  a  sea;  every  man 
is  a  mountain,  and  the  heart  throbs  in  both.  As  I  said,  it  is  not 
necessary  that  we  should  retire  to  the  jungle,  as  they  do  in  In- 
dia and  elsewhere.  A  large  city  like  New  York  is  a  jungle,  and 
as  full  of  all  the  dangers,  horrors  and  sublime  opportunities 


24  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

as  any  mountain  fastness.  As  for  myself,  I  live  in  it  and  look 
upon  New  York  City  as  a  jungle.  I  can  testify  that  I  do  not  lis- 
ten to  the  chattering  monkeys;  and  the  wild  animals,  though 
they  growl  and  threaten,  never  hurt  me.  I  let  great  popular 
excitements  pass  by  like  an  electric  storm  in  the  forest,  and  I 
stay  unaffected  in  my  meditations.  I  have  my  solitary  room  and 
there  I  find  myself  undisturbed  in  my  spiritual  exercises.  Yet, 
I  am  no  recluse.  I  do  my  duty  as  a  citizen  and  hold  men's 
fate  in  my  hands  as  much  as  any  ruler  of  states.  I  do  not  wear 
the  mendicant's  robe,  nor  do  I  carry  his  bowl,  nor  do  I  affect 
the  manners  of  a  pietist.  Of  what  use  ?  Why  should  you  not  do 
likewise?  The  "right  voice"  tells  you  to  do  likewise! 
To  return  to  the  voices: 

"Of  mountain  splendor  and  the  mobile  sea, 
Which  are  most  Mother  Nature's  in  sooth  I  cannot  tell" 
(After  John  Chadwick) 

but  this  I  know,  female  souls  seek  the  mountain  and  masculine 
souls  seek  the  sea. 

"Two  voices  are  there;  one  is  of  the  sea, 
One  of  the  mountains;  each  a  mighty  voice."  (Wordsworth) 

The  one,  that  of  the  sea,  surges  and  sinks  back  again — a 
sublime  continuance !  And  thus  it  has  been  since  time  was.  The 
others — the  mountains — were  ploughed  up  one  day  in  an  earth- 
quake and  "made  the  haunts  of  beauty;  the  home  elect  of  grace; 
Nature  spreads  mornings  on  them,  and  sunsets  light  their  face," 
and  that  is  why  masculine  souls  love  the  sea  and  female  souls 
seek  the  mountains.  And  by  drawing  these  souls  to  the  moun- 
tain and  to  the  sea,  Mother  Nature  speaks  in  the  "right  voice" 
to  each;  but  alas!  how  often  does  not  the  female  soul  become 
restless  and  cry 

"Away!  I  will  away,  far  away, 
Over  the  mountains  high: 
Here  T  am  sinking  lower  each  day." 
(Bjornson) 

Alas !  I  have  also  heard  unfaithful  masculine  souls  com- 
plain that  they  never  fully  understood  the  mystic  song  of  the 


THE  INNER  LIFE  25 

sea  and  that  dreams  enervated  them.  They  wearied  of  seeing 
the  sun  retire  and  of  sleeping  behind  his  purple  skirted  robe. 
,  .  .  And  why  is  this?  Ah!  unfaithfulness!  The  masculine 
is  as  restless  as  the  feminine.  They  are  both  unwilling  to  listen 
to  Wu-Wei,  to  "inactive  absorption  into  Tao."  They  fear  to 
be  lost.  They  will  rather  trust  themselves.  They  have  no  faith, 
though  Tao,  which  is  faith,  constantly  speaks  assuringly.  Have 
no  fear!  The  Inner  Life  does  not  kill  either  sense,  understand- 
ing, feelings  or  anything  human!  Only  shadows  vanish  and 
false  activity  is  as  naught.  Will  you  not  try  to  practice  thinking 
without  doubting;  speaking  without  duplicity;  acting  without 
attachment! 

Again: 

I  have  heard  of  the  wonderful  mountains,  Fudji-no-yama, 
of  Alborgi,  of  Kaf  and  Meru,  and  other  heaven-towering  moun- 
tains, real  and  mythical,  and  I  have  felt  the  uplift  and  I  have 
heard  a  female  voice  sing  rejoicing: 

"I  stand  on  high, 
Close  to  the  sky, 
Kissed  by  unsullied  lips  of  light ; 
Fanned  by  soft  airs 
That  seem  like  prayers 
Fleeting  to  God  through  ether  bright." 

(C.  G.  Ames.) 

And  I  have  heard  the  heart's  meditation  and  triumph: 

"All  alone  on  the  hilltop 
Nothing  but  God  and  me ! 

***** 

And  things  immortal  cluster 
Around  my  bended  knee." 

Ah,  yes !  So  I  have  heard  the  song — but  silence  and  I  have 
also  heard  the  same  heart  fret  and  fume,  wishing  for  the  ab- 
sence of  desire ;  crying  for  a  light  that  did  not  burn,  and  asking 
that  the  voice  would  cease  to  urge — as  if  the  flame  which  the 
Mother  had  started  was  not  a  holy  flame!  What  of  it,  if  the 
heart  burned  away!  It  is  so  the  Mother's  way.  Does  she  not 
know! 


26  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Again: 

Masculine  souls  have  exhausted  their  strength  in  lyric  songs 
to  the  sea,  its  mighty  breasts  and  the  refreshing  baths  and  the 
wild  waves'  ecstacy — but  they,  too,  have  been  ungrateful  and 
with  tears  repented  and  said  "  illusions  dwell  forever  with  the 
wave."  Some  have  later  on  seen  their  folly  and  come  lack  to 
the  waters  of  life.  Those  that  did  not  throw  their  repentance 
to  the  winds  and  return  to  the  ocean  of  love  will  lose  their  life 
if  they  ever  come  near  the  shore.  Such  renegades  are  never 
taken  back.  They  have  sinned  against  themselves  and  must  be 
made  over. 

This  is  what  I  have  heard  on  the  mountain  and  on  the  sea- 
shore and  I  have  translated  my  visions  and  the  voices  as  best  I 
could.  But  there  is  much  mystery  left.  You  must  understand 
that  there  are  other  seas  besides  the  ocean;  and  other  moun- 
tains besides  rocky  prominence.  They  all  have  voices — some  to 
be  heard,  others  to  be  seen.  Perhaps  you  have  read  other  in- 
scriptions on  the  mountains,  and  heard  other  musical  notes 
scored  on  the  staff  of  the  shore.  If  so,  we  understand  each 
other!    How  shall  we  teach  the  others  to  hear  and  to  see? 

Okio's  picture  speaks  in  low  and  solemn  voice.  Words- 
worth's in  high  and  triumphant  notes.  To  those  who  seldom 
commune  with  nature,  they  will  appear  so  remarkable  that  they 
will  talk  about  them  and  write  about  them  in  the  dailies  and 
magazines.  And  they  will  consider  them  something  special  they 
have  been  lucky  enough  to  see.  But  to  those  who  live  with  Na- 
ture, these  visions  and  voices  are  not  exceptional ;  they  are  com- 
mon, i.  e.,  they  lie  open  to  the  perception  and  enjoyment  of  all, 
and  always,  because  Nature  is  not  exclusive,  but  quite  lavish  in 
her  goodness.  A  youthful  and  poetic  mind  would  be  apt  to  mis- 
interpret the  symbolism  and  richer  glory  of  these  two  pictures 
and  miss  their  real  significance.  A  prosaic  and  materialistic 
mind  will,  of  course,  remain  ignorant  of  the  spiritual  values  of 
such  experiments.  To  a  lover  of  Nature,  who  is  one  with  her, 
they  will  be  resonant  with  the  deep  things  of  Divinity;  and  such 
a  lover  will  feel  an  interpenetration  of  all  Nature  with  his  or  her 
own  being,  and  he  or  she  will  come  out  of  the  experience  feeling 
transformed  and  knowing  that  something  transcendental  has 
visited  them.  And  this  is  Tao's  work.  I  cannot  define  it  any 
clearer,  but  you  can  experience  it  and  thus  know  it  better. 

When  T  now  turn  from  objective  nature  to  the  subjective 
nature  within,  I  also  find  two  voices  and  they  speak  loud  in  the 


THE  INNEB  LIFE  27 

halls  of  the  learned.  And  these  voices  are  called  Idealism  and 
Bealism,  or  Platonism  and  Aristotelianism.  You  have  all  heard 
them,  though  you  may  not  have  named  them  as  I  did.  But  hav- 
ing heard  them,  have  you  in  their  voice — either  the  one  or  the 
other — heard  the  note  of  your  own  mind?  It  is  imperative  that 
you  should  hear  that  note,  otherwise  the  voice  is  not  to  you  any 
right  voice,  but  merely  scholastic  dust  and  noise.  Which  of  the 
voices  speaks  pre-eminently  to  the  masculine  soul  and  which  to 
the  feminine,  I  leave  you  to  answer  for  yourself.  You  have  a 
guide  in  what  I  have  said  about  the  voices  of  the  sea  and  the 
mountain. 

Those  two  voices  I  just  now  called  Idealism  and  Realism; 
Platonism  and  Aristotelianism,  were  heard  at  an  earlier  day  in 
Greece  and  expressed  by  Fire-Philosophers  on  one  side  and  the 
Eleatics  or  Philosophers  of  Being  on  the  other.  I  mention  these 
because  they  are  two  voices  which  are  heard  wherever  and 
whenever  men  try  to  form  their  ideas  of  the  surrounding  world, 
and,  there  is  an  affinity  between  the  Fire  philosophy  and  some 
minds  in  my  audience,  and,  there  is  an  affinity  between  the  phil- 
osophy of  Being  and  other  minds  in  my  audience.  Some  of  you 
can  understand  the  mystery  of  existence  if  you  consider  it  un- 
der the  aspect  of  eternal  change,  a  coming  and  a  going,  a  breath- 
ing in  and  a  breathing  out.  And  such  an  understanding  is  most 
valuable  and  most  necessary  for  the  formation  of  character. 
Others  cannot  understand  what  Not-Being  is  and  how  loss, 
decay  and  death  can  be  necessary  and  valuable  elements  in  the 
cosmos.  They  demand,  according  to  the  voice  that  speaks  in 
them,  permanency  and  rest.  They,  too,  need  to  learn  all  details 
about  their  voice  in  order  to  build  character,  different  as  they 
are.  I  need  not  elaborate  or  say  any  more  about  these  two 
voices.  They  will  readily  be  seen  to  correspond  to  the  sea  and 
the  mountain  voices  which  I  have  described  in  detail.  If  it  is 
as  Aristotle  has  it,  that  some  men  become  good  by  nature ,  others 
by  training,  others  by  instruction,  then  I  say,  that  those  who  are 
good  by  nature  always  and  spontaneously  hear  those  voices  of 
the  sea  and  the  mountains  and  the  other  voices.  The  others 
learn  in  the  course  of  life  to  listen  to  them,  and  both  become  one 
with  the  voices,  when  they  have  uuderstood  them. 

Now  about  the  voice  within.  The  "right  voice"  speaks  also 
in  our  Inner  Man.  And  that  voice  is  called  by  many  names  and 
described,  as  is  natural,  very  differently,  but  we  never  have  any 
difficulty  in  knowing  what  is  meant,  when  we  hear  the  name. 


28  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

This  many-named  voice,  or  power,  or  degree,  of  the  Inner 
Man,  which  we  aim  at  getting  hold  of ;  that  degree  which  we  de- 
sire to  open  and  which  we  wish  to  develop,  is  described  in  vari- 
ous ways,  and  some  of  these  descriptions  I  will  now  give  you. 

First  of  all  I  will  give  my  own  description.  I  call  it  the  eter- 
nal pattern  or  plastic  power  in  us  and  mean  by  that,  that  it  is 
the  rule  and  regulation  inborn  or  given  to  all  men.  According 
to  it,  we  know  the  eternal  ways  and  methods.  It  always  speaks 
as  "the  right  voice"  and  we  are  happy  when  we  listen.  I  came 
originally  to  the  understanding  of  it  by  pondering  upon  the 
meaning  of  the  statement  in  Genesis,  that  we  are  made  in  "the 
image  of  God."  I  therefore  also  call  it  "the  image  of  God." 
Everyone  of  you  have  it  in  you.  It  is  that  ideal  you  carry  in 
you  and  which  you  wish  to  come  up  to.  That  ideal  you  judge  by, 
when  you  occasionally  admit  to  yourself  and  others  that  you  do 
not  come  up  to  the  standard.  It  is  there  and  nobody  can  plead 
ignorance  as  an  excuse  for  disobedience  or  for  not  attempting 
seriously  the  Higher  Life.  It  may  not  be  wide  awake,  but  it  is 
there  and  admonishes  us,  even  if  we  will  not  admit  it.  Plato's 
description  of  &vdnvv<m  (anamnesis)  or  reminiscence  is  in  part 
a  very  good  analysis.  You  know  Plato  perhaps.  I  will  not 
speak  of  it  in  detail.  But  Plato's  description  is  defective  in  my 
opinion,  in  this,  that  it  only  recognizes  ideals  of  a  former  exist- 
ence, and  that  is  a  limitation.  I  think  that  this  pattern,  I  men- 
tion, is  much  more  than  a  reminiscence;  it  precedes  anything 
that  can  be  called  so;  it  is  eternal,  and,  moreover,  it  not  only 
quickens  us,  as  Plato  says,  but  it  commands  us;  that  is,  it  is  or 
becomes  a  constitutional  part  of  us,  and  as  such  it  is  or  becomes 
ourselves.  It  is  not  a  sunset,  but  a  sunrise  and  a  perfect  day. 
It  is  not  a  longing;  it  is  a  realization.  It  is  a  compelling  voice. 
It  is  a  voice,  which,  when  we  hear  it,  we  follow  readily  and  in 
joy,  because  we  know  we  cannot  go  astray.  How  could  we?  Am 
I  not  my  own  voice,  aim  and  purpose?  Am  I  not  myself?  I  am; 
at  least  when  I  am  on  the  Path! 

I  will  now  give  some  descriptions  from  various  sources. 

Schelling  was  a  German  philosopher  of  modern  times  and  full 
of  theosophical  and  mystic  element.  It  was  he  who  said,  that 
the  Divine  sleeps  in  the  stone;  rises  up  in  the  plant;  moves  in 
the  animal  and  opens  its  eyes  in  man;  Schelling  said:  "In  us 
there  is  a  secret  and  mysterious  and  wonderful  power,  by  means 
of  which  we  may  retire  from  the  mutations  of  time,  and  into  our 
inner  self,  stripped  of  all  that  which  comes  to  us  from  the  out- 


THE  INNER  LIFE  29 

ward  things,  and,  there  under  the  form  of  unchangeableness, 
gaze  upon  the  Eternal.  This  vision  is  the  innermost  and  most 
genuine  experience  and  upon  it  depends  and  from  it  flows  all  we 
know  or  imagine  of  the  supernatural  world."  Next  to  Schelling's 
expression  I  will  place  the  Greek  philosopher,  Heraclitus,  also 
full  of  theosophy  and  mysticism.  And  he  put  it  down  as  his  ex- 
perience :  ' '  Though  you  trod  every  path,  you  could  not  find  the 
limits  of  the  soul,  so  deep  in  its  essence." 

Well,  is  that  sense  of  the  Infinite  wide  awake  in  you?  has 
it  become  Thought  in  you  as  it  did  in  Wordsworth?  Does  it 
sound  as  a  voice  you  would  follow  like  the  voice  Whitman  spoke 
of?  Have  you  perceived  it  as  the  sound  of  your  soul,  as  did  the 
mediaeval  mystics? 

Schleiermacher,  a  preacher,  akin  to  those  already  men- 
tioned, in  speaking  of  the  intuition  said:  "In  it  there  is  contact 
of  the  universal  life  with  the  individual  life.  It  is  the  holy  wed- 
lock of  the  universe  with  the  incarnated  reason.  .  .  .  It  is 
immediate,  raised  above  all  error  and  misunderstanding;  you 
lie  directly  on  the  bosom  of  the  Infinite.  In  that  moment  you  are 
its  soul.  Through  one  part  of  your  nature  you  feel,  as  your  own, 
all  its  powers  and  its  endless  life."  With  this  power  we  see  into 
the  nature  of  things,  and,  to  borrow  phraseology  from  Platon- 
ism,  it  describes  the  true  home  of  the  soul  to  be  the  supra-sensi- 
ble, supra-celestial,  world  of  true  Being,  where,  pure,  incorpo- 
real and  without  passion,  the  soul  leads  a  holy  and  eternal  life, 
contemplating  the  beauty  and  the  excellent  harmony  of  ideas, 
and,  where  the  soul  beholds  the  indivisible  and  immutable  arche- 
types of  the  fleeting  phenomena,  that  flow  in  multitudinous 
commingling  before  the  dazzled  senses. 

Ah!  For  such  experiences  "the  true  home"  of  the  soul — 
"to  contemplate  the  beauty"  of  eternity — "the  archetypes"  or 
the  essence  of  things — is  it  not  worth  while?  Shall  we  not  now 
begin,  those  of  us  who  have  not  yet  realized  this  "pure  incor- 
poreal world,"  which  is  "without  passions" — those  of  us  who 
still  live  in  those  terrible  earthquakes  that  rend  this  fragile 
frame  of  ours  to  pieces? 

Well,  friends,  "while  the  eternal  ages  watch  and  wait"  for 
some  of  us  to  come  up  higher,  let  me  quote  from  others  who,  in 
"high  seriousness,"  have  felt  and  spoken  of  that  "awful  shad- 
ow," of  the  "unseen  power,  which  floats  among  us"  visiting  us 
"as  summer  winds  that  creep  from  flower  to  flower." 


30  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Legends  and  Folklore  are  full  of  picturesque  tales  and  sym- 
bolical narratives.    Here  are  a  couple  of  examples : 

Boethius  (about  470  A.  D.)  tells  us  in  his  book  "Consola- 
tions of  Philosophy,"  how  he,  while  in  prison  and  in  exile,  was 
visited  by  a  woman  of  reverend  countenance,  with  glowing  eyes, 
penetrating  beyond  the  common  power  of  human  eyes,  of  bril- 
liant complexion,  and  inexhaustible  strength,  though  full  of 
years.  Her  stature  was  difficult  to  describe;  sometimes  she  ap- 
peared to  retain  it  within  the  common  human  measure,  some- 
times she  lifted  her  head  so  high  that  it  looked  into  the  very 
heaven  and  was  lost  to  the  gaze  of  the  beholder.  This  visitor 
was  Wisdom.  Who  would  not  like  such  a  visit,  even  though  she 
should  speak  reprovingly  as  she  did  to  Boethius,  because  she 
found  him  busy  with  classical  poetry,  neglecting  heavenly  Wis- 
dom. What  business  had  Boethius  (or  have  we)  with  anything 
else  than  the  eternal?  Yes,  such  a  visit  would  be  worth  a  whole 
life's  study  as  it  was  to  Boethius.  The  moment  he  realized  who 
she  was,  he  knew  instantly  that  all  his  studies  had  not  revealed  to 
him  what  Man  was,  and  he  had  to  confess  it  to  her.  But,  humble 
he  was  and  his  confession  was  rewarded.  In  free  and  lightsome 
song  she  bid  him  cast  away  grief,  and,  from  that  moment  she 
was  his  good  genius,  teaching  him  the  true  philosophy  and  the 
mystic  union  with  God.     She  was  his  own  Soul. 

In  a  Shawnee  tale,  from  our  American  plains  and  told  by 
Schoolcraft,  I  find  a  parallel  to  this  story.  The  story  is  called 
"The  Celestial  Sisters"  and  treats  of  a  celestial  sister,  a 
daughter  of  the  stars,  who  comes  down  to  see  "how  the  game  is 
played  by  the  mortals"  and  is  captured  by  Waupee,  "the  White 
Hawk";  she  becomes  his  bride  and  thereby  his  regenerator. 
She  brings  him  in  upon  the  starry  plains,  where  his  second  or 
celestial  marriage  is  celebrated.  I  cannot  here  give  more  of  the 
story.  I  have  elsewhere  told  it  and  commented  at  length  upon 
it.  It  is  a  marvelous  story  and  richer  than  the  Greek  of  Apule- 
ius  about  Cupid  and  Psyche. 

Of  course,  Folklore  contains  many  other  similar  stories. 
They  are  all  poetic  renderings  of  the  same  truths  which  I  have 
spoken  of.  In  numerous  Folklore  stories  do  we  hear  of  r,el>stial 
or  mystic  visitors  that  eome  to  free  a  soul  in  bondage.  In  some 
of  them  we  also  hear  warnings  to  the  one  who  receives  the  visit, 
and  these  warnings  are  to  beware  of  rudeness  and  curiosity. 
I  will  give  you  an  illustration,  not  Folklore,  however,  but  just  as 
good  and  to  the  point.    It  is  a  little  story  once  told  by  a  teacher 


THE  INNER  LIFE  31 

of  mine,  Professor  Rasmus  Nielsen,  of  Copenhagen  University. 
The  story  is  about  a  student,  a  lady.  We  see  her  at  her  study 
table.  She  has  ink  on  her  fingers ;  surely  a  proof  that  she  is  lit- 
erary. She  is  not  yet  a  graduate,  but  soon  she  will  be.  See  how 
she  arms  herself.  Look  at  this  table  of  studies;  seven  foreign 
languages,  history,  geography,  music,  singing,  drawing,  paint- 
ing, natural  history  and  physics,  mythology,  perspective  and 
mathematics,  fortification  and  astronomy.  For  a  moment  she 
rests  and  takes  her  attention  from  an  essay  in  astronomy  on 
which  she  is  at  work.  Suddenly  it  occurs  to  her  that  there  is 
something  wanting  on  the  study-plan.  Says  she :  ' i  There  must 
be  something  they  call  the  Inner  Life.  I  can  learn  so  much  else, 
surely  I  can  learn  that,  too.  It  would  be  well  to  do  so ;  it  is  al- 
ways well  to  know  something  that  others  do  not  know.  I  wish 
I  could  find  a  teacher  in  the  Inner  Life.  As  suddenly  as  this 
soliloquy  had  sprung  up,  as  suddenly  there  appeared  in  the  door 
an  elderly  sage-looking  man,  who  smiled  upon  her  with  compas- 
sion. "Well,  who  are  you?"  He  was,  he  said,  a  teacher  in  the 
Inner  Life  and  offered  to  give  her  lessons.  What  are  your 
terms  ? ' '  He  teaches  without  money  or  compensation  and  is  al- 
ways at  service.  "What?"  says  she,  "without  money  or  com- 
pensation," and  "always  at  service?"  She  is  astonished;  looks 
out  of  the  window  and — when  she  turns  back,  he  is  gone !  ' '  Hah  I 
what  is  that  like?  He  teaches  "without  money  or  compensa- 
tion" and  is  "always  at  service"  and  can't  even  wait  while  one 
looks  out  of  the  window.  Wonder  if  the  Inner  Life  is  logical? 
By  the  way,  I  forgot  to  ask  about  recommendations.  The  in- 
cident was  soon  forgotten  and  our  student  turned  to  the  astro- 
nomical essay.  What  she  later  found  out  about  the  teacher  and 
the  Inner  Life  is  not  known.  But  this,  my  listener  might  learn, 
that  the  Inner  Life  is  immediate,  sudden,  spontaneous  and  free 
of  cost.  Do  not  look  out  of  the  window;  do  not  hesitate!  Do 
not  ask  for  recommendations. 

Not  individuals  only  make  such  grave  mistakes.  Western' 
humanity  has  made  them  again  and  again.  I  can  supplement 
my  teacher's,  the  Professor's  story  by  showing  you  the  parallel 
to  his  story  in  history.  The  history  of  philosophy  furnishes  it. 
Greek  Thought  degenerated  into  materialism  in  Democritus  and 
his  successors,  and,  in  Socrates  and  the  Sophists  it  lost  itself 
entirely  in  self-conceit.  A  reaction  set  in  with  Plato,  and  in  the 
Post-Aristotelian  thought  Greece  almost  recovered  itself.  Neo- 
Platonism  was  full  salvation.     Neo-Platonism  was  mystic  and 


32  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

theosophic  wisdom,  that  destroyed  all  self-sufficiency  and  taught 
men  how  to  find  release  from  the  world  and  the  flesh  by  an  in- 
nermost activity  of  soul  and  in  ecstacy.    (Down  and  up!) 

Men  lapsed.  Night  set  in  again,  and,  in  the  next  and  follow- 
ing ages  the  transcendental  period  established  by  Plotinos  and 
his  school  lost  entirely  its  vital  force  and  became  mere  scholas- 
ticism in  the  Church's  theology,  and  transformed  itself  into  a 
doctrine  of  will,  such  as  is  manifested  in  St.  Augustine.  These 
two  represent  a  new  fall  and  degeneration  once  more.  The  Dark 
Ages,  the  Middle  Ages,  follow  and  the  Inner  Life  is  lost  sight  of. 
But  redemption  comes  at  last.  It  breaks  forth  in  the  Renais- 
sance and  Reformation  and  comes  to  its  full  power  in  theosoph- 
ists  like  Jacob  Boehme  and  all  those  wonderful  men,  such  as 
Eckardt,  Suso  and  Tauler,  who  all  live  entirely  in  the  depths  of 
the  soul.    (Again  down  and  up!) 

Once  again  after  a  time  delusions  blind  the  human  mind 
and  conceit  gets  the  upper  hand.  The  supremacy  of  mind  and 
spirit  in  men  like  Descartes  becomes  mere  rationalism.  English 
empiricism  crops  up  as  an  antidote,  but  on  the  same  low  level 
and,  between  the  two,  the  human  mind  is  again  darkened  and 
comes  near  its  death.  A  revival  begins  in  Emanuel  Kant's  re- 
assertion  of  the  spiritual  principle,  and  in  the  works  of  the  so- 
called  Faith-Philosophers,  Lessing,  Jacobi  and  Herder.  But  the 
real  resurrection  takes  place  when  the  mystics  and  theosophs 
once  again  come  upon  the  scene.  Reinhold  asserts  "the  prin- 
ciple of  Consciousness"  and  lays  emphasis  upon  the  fact  that, 
thought  always  points  beyond  itself.  He  therefore  demands  a 
higher  unity  than  thought  can  furnish,  and  that  opens  the  door 
for  mysticism.  Fichte  and  Schelling  both  end  in  Theosophy  and 
become  the  saviors  of  many.  Finally  comes  Schiller  with  his 
mystic  doctrine  of  art  as  the  redeeming  element  from  all  scep- 
ticism and  materialism  of  the  age.  At  the  same  time  such 
Romanticists  as  Novalis  dream  and  talk  only  about  the  inner- 
most essence  of  things.  All  this,  together  with  that  vigorous 
protest  we  call  the  French  Revolution,  shake  off  all  trammels; 
and  from  now  on  the  individual  is  free  again  to  pursue  its  own 
course.  Thus  once  more  did  the  mystic  powers  that  lie  at  the 
root  of  the  human  tree  revive  it  and  give  it  new  growth.  (Down 
and  up  again!) 

Has  it  continued  to  grow  according  to  the  promises  of  the 
beginning?  Nay,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  negative  forces, 
the  selfish  powers  of  the  knights,  kings  and  priests  and  their 


THE  INNEB  LIFE 


33 


servants,  have  succeeded  only  too  well  in  strangling  the  new 
growth.  And  science,  which  ought  to  have  been  a  liberating 
angel,  has  only  too  often  and  too  well  furnished  the  gross  and 
stupid  parts  of  man  with  indulgences  and  physical  means  for 
enjoyment.  Everywhere  we  again  see  decay  and  indifference. 
Here  and  there  only,  and,  in  isolated  cases,  have  theosophists 
and  mystics  arisen  with  healing  on  their  wings,  and  upon  them 
depend  a  revival  and  restoration  as  it  has  depended  upon  them 
in  the  past,  as  I  have  just  shown  you.  Will  you,  all  of  you, 
each  one  individually,  come  to  the  rescue?  There  is  no  better 
way  to  promote  one's  own  welfare  than  by  working  for  others. 
All  the  voices,  that  are  " right  voices,"  all  call  upon  us  to  do 
something  for  the  neighbor,  and,  they  all  say  that  we  can  ac- 
complish nothing  of  ourselves,  nothing  in  isolation.  The  future 
belongs  to  us  if  we  will  work!  And,  now,  in  this  chapter  you 
have  heard  two  voices  in  the  pictures  I  have  shown.  The  first 
voice  speaks  in  two  ways,  by  the  melancholy  note  of  the  sea 
and  by  the  joyous  triumph  of  the  mountain.  The  second  voice 
is  that  of  the  human  heart.  All  three  are  voices  of  Tao,  of 
which  you  shall  hear  more  in  other  chapters.  All  three  are  One 
voice,  and  that  voice  speaks  without  sound,  and,  that  One  voice 
is  also  Tao.  Of  that  you  shall  also  hear  more  later.  To  the 
three  spiritual  voices  answer  four  mundane  voices,  and  of  these 
I  shall  speak  at  the  end  of  this  course  of  chapters.  Some  of 
you  will  understand  that  I  refer  to  the  Triad  and  the  Quater- 
nary. Tao  is  The  Word  or  ' '  The  Silent  Speaker, ' '  and  the  little 
book,  ''The  Voice  of  the  Silence,"  says,  on  page  3,  that  the  soul 
must  be  "united  unto  the  silent  speaker"  before  she  can  com- 
prehend "the  mystery."  This  teaching  applies  to  all  I  have 
said  to-day.  And  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  silence  that  speaks 
without  sound,  it  is  necessary  one  should  learn  what  it  is  to 
fall  away  from  the  phenomenal  and  into  the  Higher  Self,  and 
thus  become  one  with  the  "Silent  Speaker." 

I  have  now  spoken  about  voices,  such  as  they  come  to 
us  in  Nature  and  in  the  Mind,  and  my  words  may  possibly  have 
been  pleasant  to  some  of  you,  and  my  illustrations  may  have 
been  interesting,  but  I  shall  have  missed  my  object  entirely  if 
my  words  have  not  translated  themselves  into  soundless  voices, 
and  if  the  "Silent  Speaker"  in  you  has  not  united  with  you. 

Let  me  hope ! 


MYSTICISM 

nx 

THOUGH  I  have  spoken  twice  about  the  Inner  Life,  intro- 
ductory to  my  chapters  on  the  Tao-Teh-King,  there  is 
still  a  great  deal  to  be  said  about  it,  all  of  which  will  be 
helpful  in  the  study  of  that  book.  Upon  some  points 
most  important  in  that  respect,  I  shall  touch  now  and  hope  you 
will  be  as  happy  to  hear  them  as  you  were  with  the  two  other 
talks.  It  is  especially  about  the  Inner  Life  in  its  relationship  to 
Mysticism  that  I  would  speak.  The  two  are  not  identical  as  some 
might  think.  I  can  define  their  relationship  very  readily.  If  I 
divide  mystics  in  two  large  groups  and  include  in  the  first  all 
pillar-saints,  hermit-fakirs  of  the  deserts,  Harpokrates  and  his 
kind,  epileptic  miracle-mongers,  flagellants,  mendicants  and 
other  beggars  who  pretended  to  sanctity,  but  really  were  sus- 
picious characters,  not  to  say  criminals,  then — these  are  not 
Inner  Life  people.  They  ought  never  to  have  been  called  mys- 
tics. The  other  group  will  be  composed  of  saints,  yogis,  and  all 
those  who  come  under  the  category  of  Inner  Life  people,  such 
as  I  have  defined  the  Inner  Life  in  the  two  foregoing  chapters, 
and,  as  I  shall  define  it  now. 

In  beginning  a  study  of  the  Tao-Teh-King  and  Taoism  it 
is  well  to  emphasize  that  all  Inner  Life  takes  its  color  and  terms 
from  its  environment.  The  Inner  Life  is  always  Mysticism,  but 
its  forms  vary  according  to  the  soil  in  which  it  grows,  the  atmos- 
phere it  breathes  and  the  geographical  zones  in  which  it  finds 
its  home,  and  it  is  always  adapted  to  the  historic  period  in  which 
it  appears.  You  will  remember  from  my  last  lecture  the  periods 
I  pointed  out  and  how  the  mystics  came  in  as  the  saviors.  The 
reason  for  the  variation  of  form  is  this,  that  the  Mystic  Life  is 
always  more  or  less  of  a  protest  against  existing  conditions  of 
the  actual  life  in  the  midst  of  which  it  appears.  It  is  only  in 
forms  of  expression  that  it  varies  so  much.    Its  core  is  always 


MYSTICISM 


35 


the  same,  and  mystics  of  all  ages  and  climes  understand  each 
other  even  if  they  do  not  speak  each  others  languages.  Thus  in 
Brahminism  Mysticism  is  ritualistic  and  must  be  studied  in  its 
symbolical  actions.  In  Buddhism  it  is  nihilistic  and  must  be 
guessed  from  its  hyper-transcendental  forms.  In  Mohamme- 
danism it  is  forbidden  and  hides  behind  Koranic  doctrines  or  in 
poetic  and  naturalistic  lyricism  such  as  found  among  the  Sufis. 
In  Christianity  it  indulges  in  extravagant  ascetic  practices  and 
monastic  enthusiasm.  In  Judaism  it  has  revealed  a  wonderful 
philosophy,  the  Kabbalah,  which  is  a  transcription  of  the  divine 
life  as  it  flows  in  human  arteries  and  veins  and  as  it  reveals  itself 
in  the  cosmic  order  of  the  universe.  In  our  own  day  Hasidism 
or  Jewish  pietism  in  the  form  of  sentiment  and  emotional  faith 
is  Mysticism  of  purer  water.  In  China,  Mysticism  is  closely  con- 
nected with  the  social-political  order  of  the  democratic  forms 
of  the  empire.    Something  which  the  future  chapters  will  show. 

In  connection  with  the  various  forms  of  it  which  I  have  just 
mentioned,  many  individuals  and  books  come  before  us  and  re- 
quire close  attention.  In  Brahminism  the  Upanishads  claim  it. 
In  Buddhism  it  is  the  person  of  the  Buddha.  In  the  Kabbalah 
it  is  the  Zohar  and  the  Sepher  Jetzirah  we  go  to.  In  Hasidism 
we  realize  that  when  we  look  on  material  things,  we  really  gaze 
at  the  image  of  the  Deity.  In  China  it  is  the  Tao-Teh-King  and 
its  author  Laotzse,  and,  in  Christianity  it  is  the  master-mystic, 
Jesus,  and  his  disciple  Paul.  These  general  remarks  are  suf- 
ficient to  show,  that  the  Inner  Life  is  not  an  abstraction  or  an 
airy  nothing,  but  something  historical  and  real,  though  at  the 
same  time  it  is  entirely  removed  from  history  and  the  actual 
world. 

In  studying  Mysticism  or  forms  of  the  Inner  Life  under  any 
of  these  conditions,  we  repeatedly  come  in  upon  the  ground  oc- 
cupied by  philosophy  and  religion,  because  these  two  together 
with  mysticism  are  the  three  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  factors 
in  human  life, 

"These  three  on  men  all  gracious  gifts  bestow." 

But  their  fields  are  nevertheless  distinct  and  the  three  must 
be  kept  part  in  our  studies.  Philosophy  will  grasp  the  L^niversal 
in  a  conception.  Religion  will  devote  itself  to  the  service  of  the 
Universal.  Mysticism,  or  the  Inner  Life,  includes  both  and 
transcends  both  because  it  lives  in  the  Whole,  not  in  any  part. 


36  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

It  will,  as  Echardt  put  it,  have  Divinity,  not  merely  God.  It 
must  also  be  borne  in  mind  throughout  our  studies,  that  Mystic- 
ism is  The  Inner  Life,  and  of  the  Inner  Life  I  have  already 
spoken.  Being  the  Inner  Life,  Mysticism  is  not  Occultism,  nor 
anything  that  comes  under  that  heading  in  the  catalogue  of  the 
learned  societies.  To  be  sure,  numerous  occult  subjects  con- 
stantly come  up  and  crave  our  attention  for  the  time  being  and 
their  relation  to  The  Inner  Life  must  be  settled.  Occultism,  prop- 
erly understood,  is  a  science  of  the  hidden  workings  of  Nature's 
powers  and  Nature's  methods.  The  majority  of  people  do  not 
need  occult  studies,  and  such  studies  would  be  injurious  to  most. 
But  all  people  need  the  Inner  Life,  the  development  of  soul 
powers.  Of  what  use  in  the  bettering  of  life  is  a  knowledge  of 
manvantaras  and  pralayas,  or,  the  ebb  and  flow  of  divine  life,  if 
the  student  does  not  live  according  to  such  knowledge ;  if  he  does 
not  live  as  Shamsy,  who  cried  out:  "From  the  bosom  of  Self,  I 
catch  continually  a  scent  of  the  Beloved." 

Mysticism  or  the  Inner  Life  is  not  the  same  as  Spiritism; 
in  fact  it  stands  sharply  over  against  the  delusions  that  hide 
under  that  name.  But  we  meet  again  and  again  mystics  who 
have  been  in  some  relationship  or  other  to  angels  and  devils, 
and  their  records  about  such  intercourses  must  be  carefully 
sifted. 

There  is  Mysticism  or  Inner  Life  in  Art  and  in  much  of  our 
literature,  in  poetry,  for  instance.  The  artist  feels  it  as  the 
plastic  power  of  his  art ;  the  writer  works  by  it  as  his  formative 
energy ;  to  the  scientist  it  is  the  mystic  fire  in  his  test-tube,  that 
subtle  cosmic  power  which  he  neither  can  weigh  nor  measure. 

Here  a  warning  against  bias  is  needed.  An  artist  or  a 
scientist  may  be  good  Inner  Life  people  though  they  do  not 
speak  in  the  customary  language  of  most  mystics.  Do  not  con- 
demn anybody  because  they  do  not  use  the  same  terminology  as 
you  do.  I  see  a  most  exalted  Nature-Mysticism  in  Michael  An- 
gel o's  so-called  "Aurora,"  the  figure  on  the  monument  over 
Lorenzo  di  Medici.  They  did  not  bury  Tyndal  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  as  they  ought  to  have  done.  When  he  advocated  "imag- 
ination" in  his  famous  Belfast  address,  he  spoke  from  out  of 
the  Inner  Life.  Tn  my  opinion,  in  the  Alps  he  had  discovered  what 
the  image-making  power  is.  He  had  seen,  what  Frederick  Rob- 
ertson called  so  beautifully,  "God's  feeling  and  imagination." 
Friends !  There  is  much  more  Mysticism  and  many  more  ele- 
ments of  the  Inner  Life  in  the  world  and  in  you,  than  you  know. 


MYSTICISM  37 

Asceticism  is  rampant  in  the  history  of  Mysticism,  but  a 
mystic  or  a  theosoph  is  not  necessarily  ascetic.  Buddha  found 
that  the  ascetic  method  was  a  miserable  failure,  as  regards  the 
attainment  of  the  freedom  and  knowledge  he  sought.  Jesus  may 
in  his  youth  have  lived  among  Essenes  and  Therapeutae  and 
applied  the  ascetic  method,  we  do  not  know.  But  this  is  certain, 
in  the  Gospels  he  is  no  ascetic,  and  is  blamed  by  his  enemies 
therefore.  Here  are  two  mystics,  two  who  lived  the  Inner  Life, 
and  whose  likeness  none  of  us  have  reached.  Neither  of  them 
teach  asceticism.  They  teach  self-conquests ;  they  preach  over- 
coming; they  give  examples  upon  living  not  swayed  or  domin- 
ated by  passions — all  of  which  we  must  learn,  and  learn  to  prac- 
tice. They  teach  especially  against  making  bad  Karma ;  against 
fatal  entanglements,  and  they  advocate  the  simplicity  of  the  lil- 
lies  and  children.  Though  Buddha  and  Jesus  denied  asceticism 
both  Buddhism  and  Christianity,  however,  have  upheld  asceticism 
in  its  worst  forms.  Such  master  Mystics  and  Inner  Life  men  as 
Buddha  and  Jesus  are  not  denying  the  cosmic  energy  there  is  in 
life,  both  objectively  and  subjectively.  On  the  contrary  they 
work  in  harmony  with  that  cosmic  energy,  and  it  is  for  us  to 
learn  to  do  likewise.  Most  people  must,  however,  overcome 
much  and  fight  many  battles  against  themselves  before  they  are 
ready  for  that  simplicity  which  these  two  represent  or  even  be- 
fore they  are  ready  to  acknowledge  these  two  as  types  of  the 
Inner  Life.  Buddha  and  Jesus  deny  the  irrational  workings  of 
that  energy  when  it  appears  in  our  human  frame,  when  it  flames 
like  fire  broken  loose,  or  like  a  raging  tempest,  or  as  a  subtle 
poison  in  envy  and  hatred.  Cosmic  energy  can  be  a  savor  of  life 
and  a  savor  of  death;  it  is  a  savor  of  life  to  the  strong,  to  him 
who  is  not  working  for  self;  it  is  a  savor  of  death  to  him  who 
lives  only  for  self,  and,  to  him  and  all  who  are  ignorant  of  the 
nature  of  cosmic  energy. 

The  mystic  is  no  finished  product;  he  is  simply  a  traveller 
on  the  Path,  and  as  such  he  is  learning  to  "overcome."  And 
what  is  it  we  must  overcome?  To  what  extent  must  we  all  be 
ascetics?  I  give  as  an  answer  in  part  the  following:  The  mystic, 
in  Western  terms,  "seeks  union  with  God"  and  nothing  else. 
To  translate  this  phrase,  "union  with  God"  into  the  lowest 
terms,  I  say,  it  means  "to  come  into  order,"  "to  live  ration- 
ally." To  attain  such  "order,"  such  "rr.ason,"  we  must  over- 
come all  our  crotchets,  desires  and  idiosyncracies,  whatever  they 
may  be.    Not  the  power  which  misapplied  or  run  wild  becomes 


38  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

crotchets,  desires  and  idiosyncracies.  The  power  is  all  right, 
but  our  application  is  wrong.  This  is  the  simplest  way  to  in- 
dicate what  it  is  to  * '  overcome. ' '  The  subject  can  not  be  stated  in 
lower  terms.  Of  course,  " overcoming"  thus  far  denned  is  only 
a  beginning.  It  is  followed  by  numerous  other  degrees,  but  of 
these  I  need  not  speak  at  present.  I  will,  however,  touch  upon 
some  features  of  " overcoming' '  which  are  of  primary  import- 
ance :  of  total  resignation,  of  self-denial,  carrying  the  cross.  In 
one  word,  and  in  a  mystic  phrase :  we  must  stand  naked  in  the 
presence  of  Self  before  the  real  mysteries  will  reveal  themselves. 
"We  must  be  "naked"  in  order  to  enter  the  Path  to  the  Inner 
Life ;  free  from  all  those  irrational  and  passionate  forms  which 
hinder  us.  Nakedness  means  freedom,  truth,  soul-reality.  We 
must  be  "naked"  because  we  cannot  enter  the  sacred  fire  with 
clothes  on;  they  burn,  and  thus  we  will  be  scorched.  Self  can- 
not burn.  Do  you  remember  the  story  from  classic  mythology 
about  Demeter,  who  is  the  Goddess  Isis,  who  placed  the  little 
Demophaon,  son  of  Metanaia,  in  the  fire,  that  he  might  become 
immortal  ?  The  mother  interfered  and  the  boy  was  burned !  Ee- 
member  also  Ishtar  of  Babylonian  legend,  who  had  to  drop  one 
garment  after  another  on  each  of  the  seven  steps  in  her  descent 
into  hell  to  recover  her  other  half,  Ishtubar.  At  last  she  stood 
naked  and  the  doors  opened.  She  returned  unscathed.  In 
clothes  we  burn,  but  not  without  them. 

The  same  truths  come  out  in  the  Sufi  legend  about  the  soul, 
which  came  to  the  gate  of  Paradise  and  asked  for  admission. 
Upon  inquiry  from  within:  "Who  is  there?"  the  soul  answered: 
"It  is  I,"  but  the  door  was  not  opened,  and,  remained  closed  for 
three  times  thousand  years,  each  time  the  soul  returned  with 
the  same  request.  At  last  when  the  soul  had  learned  what  the 
Inner  Life  is  and  answered  not"It  is  I, "but  "It  is  We,"  then  the 
door  opened  at  once.  When  the  soul  has  learned  that  separate- 
ness  or  clothes  are  in  the  way,  then  it  enters  into  joy;  never 
before. 

Did  not  the  cry  of  Jesus  on  the  cross:  "Father,  why  hast 
Thou  left  me!"  signify  the  same ?  They  did !  The  proof  is,  that 
immediately  after  that  cry  of  nakedness,  he  exclaimed:  "It  is 
accomplished!"  (his  work.) 

What  can  we  do  in  nakedness  and  not  otherwise?  In  naked- 
ness, we  are  like  Thor.  Thor  is  the  spiritual  giant,  who  is  not 
attached  to  "these"  things  and  who  therefore  unlike  anybody 
else,  can  break  through  Helas  Kingdom  and  make  even  Hell 


MYSTICISM  39 

shiver,  shake  and  tremble.  Asa-Thor  is  the  God  of  rejuvenes- 
cence ;  his  beard  is  as  red  as  his  fiery  nature ;  he  has  the  Mjolner, 
the  belt  of  strength  and  the  marvelous  mail,  all  symbols  of  puri- 
fied or  ' 'naked"  humanity.  Once  he  rode  into  Hellheim  and 
brought  consternation.  Never  before  had  living  men  entered 
where  the  ground  was  only  fear,  the  walls  nothing  but  pain  and 
the  roof  made  of  the  stench  of  death.  No  wonder  Thor's  com- 
panion Loki  advised  him  to  leave.  But  Thor  would  not  till  he 
had  lectured  the  contemptible  shades  that  stood  in  rows  along 
the  walls  and  shivered  clad  only  in  shadows  and  pained  at  sight 
of  so  much  health ;  health,  they  had  lost  because  of  fear  and  the 
Negative.  Only  nakedness  accomplishes  such  deeds!  No  man 
loaded  down  with  merchandise  or  in  fine  clothes  comes  back  out 
of  Hell,  or  is  able  to  lecture  the  shades.  He  is  rich,  too  rich ! ! 
Now  you  see  the  meaning  of  nakedness  and  will  understand  why 
anchorites  almost  always  are  naked.    It  is  a  symbolical  help. 

Enough  of  pictures !  After  that  which  I  have  now  said  about 
Mysticism  and  the  Inner  Life,  it  will  not  be  surprising,  that  I 
say  that  Mysticism  or  the  Inner  Life  is  a  protest  against  the 
actual  conditions  of  its  surroundings.  The  Inner  Life  is  not  nec- 
essarily so  radical  as  Mysticism,  but  rather  inclined  in  the  same 
direction.  Mysticism  is  always  in  its  beginning  a  protest  against 
the  traditional  and  against  the  actual.  It  is  in  conflict  with  the 
traditional  because  it  demands  originality.  It  is  in  conflict  with 
the  actual  because  the  actual  is  usually  brutal  and  of  itself  in 
conflict  with  the  Inner  Life,  a  conflict  which  roots  in  the  usurp- 
tion  of  leadership  by  the  actual.  The  Inner  Life  cannot  and 
will  not  recognize  the  actual  for  more  than  a  passing  show,  a 
necessary  face  of  life.  The  actual  is  made  by  man,  not  by  the 
Eternal,  hence  its  ephemeral  character. 

But  Mysticism  and  the  Inner  Life  people  have  not  always 
been  in  the  right.  Let  me  show  a  couple  of  mistakes.  Mystic- 
ism has  in  the  past  condemned  the  senses.  One  of  the  mystics 
has  said:  "The  senses  resemble  an  ass,  and  evil  desire  is  the 
halter" — that  is  the  general  idea  of  the  mystics,  but  the  Inner 
Life  as  I  understand  it  does  not  necessarily  take  that  attitude; 
at  any  rate  not  always. 

Let  me  try  to  say  something  in  favor  of  a  rational  view  of 
the  senses,  the  flesh.  I  may  possibly  meet  with  opposition  in 
some  of  you;  may  I  therefore  ask  you  to  listen  and  follow  my 
explanation  till  the  end  and  wait  with  your  judgment  until  I  am 
through  with  my  exposition?     Mind  is  the  interpreter  and  the 


40  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

fashioner  of  the  music  that  the  Divine  plays  upon  us,  and  I  may 
say  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  the  senses  are  the  me- 
chanics, who  mould  the  divine  fire  into  acts,  into  deeds.  They 
are  the  hands  of  the  mind.  Can  you  realize  what  our  world 
would  be  if  we  had  no  senses?  Have  you  ever  thought  of  itt 
If  mind  only  existed  and  no  senses,  the  Word  might  be  spoken, 
sounds  might  thrill  the  vacant  spaces  and  colors  might  dash  from 
pole  to  pole  or  illumine  the  night,  but  there  would  be  no  human 
world.  The  human  world  is  made  by  the  human  hand  or  which 
is  the  same,  by  human  deeds  and  there  can  be  no  human  deeds 
without  the  senses,  the  flesh !  That  is  a  fact !  Without  the  arts 
man  could  not  utter  himself,  much  less  discover  himself.  He 
would  remain  mute  and  blind.  In  his  desire  to  speak  and  to  see 
he  evolved  them;  he  demonstrated  his  desire  by  the  arts.  That 
is  the  origin  of  the  arts.  If  there  is  anything  at  the  bottom  of 
you,  you  will  develop  a  sense  for  its  manifestation  and  an  arl 
that  proves  your  value ! 

We  have  the  choice:  a  human  world  and  the  senses,  the 
flesh,  or,  Death  as  Death  will  be  if  we  leave  out  the  senses,  the 
flesh.  In  that  case,  Death  will  then  be  the  end  of  life  and  not  as 
it  really  is,  an  event  merely.  The  denial  of  the  senses,  the  flesh, 
means  that  we  declare  that  all  our  doings,  all  our  acts,  are  weav- 
ings  of  smoke,  are  puppet  plays,  are  perishable  time-illusions 
and  not  the  manifestations  of  that  wonderful  existence  which 
Silence  reveals.  What  Divinity  is  esoterically,  we  do  not  know, 
but  to  us  Divinity  becomes  something  by  our  acts.  In  our  do- 
ings Divinity  is  unfolded  in  us.  The  Greater  Life,  the  Inner 
Life,  cannot  admit  limited  views.  In  the  Greater  Life,  the  five 
senses  (to  limit  the  question  to  these)  are  the  five  fingers  of  the 
human  hand,  and,  the  human  hand  is  the  most  marvelous  organ 
(none  other  excepted)  we  have.  Without  a  hand,  no  human 
society !  Think  it  out  and  you  shall  sec !  Let  us  learn  to  honor 
the  senses,  the  flesh,  and,  be  done  with  absurd  asceticism.  The 
senses  are  nature's  personification  in  man.  "In  the  senses  of 
the  body,  Nature  mirrors  herself  to  the  mind"  (Krause),  and 
in  "the  formation  of  the  human  body,  Nature  authenticates  her- 
self as  one  living  whole."     (Krause.) 

True,  the  senses  drag  us  frequently  over  the  ragged  edges 
of  sorrow!  But  it  is  rarely  in  the  open  sea  that  our  ship  is 
wrecked.  Good  sailors  run  out  into  the  Open  when  the  storm 
overtakes  them,  and  they  avoid  the  shore.  The  gale  throws  the 
catboat  and  the  timid  sailor  on  the  rocks,  or  on  the  shoal  that  he 


MYSTICISM  41 

hugs  in  his  fear  of  the  Open.  The  dangers  on  the  sea  are  chiefly 
those  of  shore  and  shoal,  not  in  the  Open.  Keep  the  rudder 
true !  Run  out  into  the  Open !  True,  the  senses  are  for  many 
fall  and  destruction.  With  regard  to  the  senses,  the  old  accusa- 
tion which  Adam  raised  against  Eve  holds  good.  Because  fools 
have  used  and  abused  the  senses  they  accuse  the  senses  of  undo- 
ing them.  The  accusation  is  as  cowardly  and  unjust  as  that  of 
Adam's.  True,  the  senses  often  leave  us  empty  and  forlorn, 
but  it  is  also  true  that  it  is  first  when  the  trees  are  leafless  and 
reach  the  bare  arms  up  in  the  cold  air  towards  a  bleak  sky,  that 
we  discover  the  secret  of  the  forest !  Have  you  seen  that  ?  It 
is  so !  There  is  a  wonderful  symbolism  here !  When  the  forest 
is  overloaded  with  leaves  it  is  intoxicated  with  life  and  its  mys- 
tery simmers  away.  When  a  human  being  is  drenched  in  pas- 
sionate streams,  the  senses  adjust  the  exuberance  and  the  pain 
of  the  drain  reveals  their  real  nature.  Never  does  conscience 
speak  clearer  than  through  the  senses  and  their  ravages !  The 
cure  of  life  is  more  life!  Do  you  see  how  the  senses  minister 
to  the  redemption  of  the  whole  man?  I  say  all  this  fully  con- 
scious of  what  I  say.  I  glorify  the  senses,  but  I  will  not  sub- 
scribe to  Keat's  famous  exclamation:  "Oh,  for  a  life  of  sensa- 
tions rather  than  thoughts."  The  senses  must  always  be  " spir- 
itualized" and  that  not  merely  in  Keat's  sense.  To  "spiritual- 
ize" to  him  had  only  an  aesthetic  sense  and  no  moral  significa- 
tion. Degeneration  is  an  economic  factor  in  the  life  of  the  indi- 
vidual ;  and,  Deity  and  Nature  are  not  at  strife. 

I  will  say,  that  the  Inner  Life  works  with  the  senses,  the 
flesh,  as  a  gardener  does  with  the  soil.  He  uses  the  soil  to  grow 
his  flowers  in,  and,  has  no  other  ground  to  plant  in,  and,  this  is 
the  point,  the  soil  he  plants  in  is  organic  matter  with  slight 
intermixture  of  inorganic  material.  Just  how  the  plant  appro- 
priates and  assimilates  the  elements  we  do  not  know.  We  see 
it  grow,  sometimes  very  well ;  but  we  also  see  the  plants  make 
mistakes  and  die.  Apply  this  to  ourselves.  We  grow  in  or- 
ganic matter,  in  flesh,  which  we  renew  daily,  and,  if  we  do  not 
do  so,  we  die.  We  cannot  grow  without  it  any  more  than  a  plant 
can.  How  we  appropriate  and  assimilate  the  elements  we  do 
know  to  some  small  extent,  but  we  certainly  do  not  know  how 
it  is  that  we  can  flower  spiritually  and  can  blossom  heavenly  on 
account  of  this  organic  life.  But  we  do  flower  and  blossom  and 
some  blossoms  are  very  sweet  smelling.  We  know  that  we  make 
numerous  mistakes — probably  more  than  the  plants — in  our  en- 


42  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

deavors  to  appropriate  and  assimilate  food  both  for  the  organ- 
ism, the  flesh,  for  brain  and  heart,  for  soul  and  spirit.  Rather 
than  condemn  the  life  of  the  senses,  Inner  Life  people  study 
them  and  one  result  Inner  Life  people  have  attained  and  that 
is,  that  they  have  realized  that  the  senses  are  poor  rulers  but 
excellent  servants  when  trained.  It  must  not  be  charged 
against  the  senses,  the  flesh,  that  weeds  and  poisonous  growth 
spring  up  and  overrun  everything.  They  are  not  generated  by 
the  soil  or  the  senses,  but  are  sowed  there.  The  soil  and  the 
senses  are  simply  passive  tools  to  bring  them  forth,  and  no  more. 
Yet,  the  senses  have  been  condemned  because  of  these  growths ; 
nobody  seems  to  have  seen  the  irrationality  and  the  absurdity 
of  the  charge.  The  whole  absurdity  must  be  laid  at  the  door  of 
the  fanatics,  and  we  must  in  the  future  acquire  more  sense. 
Let  me  advise  my  hearers  when  they  next  time  hear  some  fanatic 
in  unqualified  talk  condemn  the  senses,  the  flesh,  that  they  ask 
him  what  he  means.  Ask  him  for  instance  if  his  harangues  are 
not  of  the  senses?  Ask  him  where  he  gets  his  violence  from? 
Ask  him  if  his  God  gave  him  his  senses  in  order  to  betray  him! 
His  answer  to  these  questions  will  prove  what  sort  of  senses  he 
has,  and,  whether  he  has  any  sense.  If  he  does  not  see  the  point, 
you  will.  In  our  day  we  cannot  affcrd  to  live  in  the  foolishness 
of  the  past,  nor  to  be  led  by  maniacs ;  let  us  have  truth  every- 
where. 

Like  the  gardener  we  must  engage  in  the  study  of  soils,  and 
find  out  how  to  plow  our  sense-soil ;  how  to  loosen  it  for  the  roots 
of  the  plants ;  how  to  water  it  and  drain  it,  and,  keep  it  free  from 
weeds;  how  to  manure  with  the  right  ingredients,  and,  how  to 
do  it  in  right  proportions ;  how  one  soil  of  our  sense-nature  is 
suitable  for  art-cultures  and  another  for  wisdom-cultures. 
Common  sense  seems  to  me  would  advise  this.  But  as  it  is,  in 
the  past  when  people  awakened  spiritually,  they  turned  most  un- 
naturally against  themselves;  they  cut  away  all  balancing  roots, 
became  top-heavy  and  were  thrown  over  by  the  storms.  Read 
any  life  of  any  of  those  people  and  you  shall  see  it  is  as  I  have 
stated.  Now,  the  Xew  Mysticism  has  profited  by  study  and  will 
avoid  these  mistakes.  This  is  what  I  at  present  will  say  about 
the  senses,  the  flesh.  You  may  now  pass  judgment  upon  what 
I  have  said  and  make  up  your  mind  what  you  will  do  with  the 
subject.  The  future  is  yours  if  you  will  take  it.  This  I  will 
say,  do  not  misunderstand  or  misconstrue  my  words,  I  have  not 
advocated  the  free  play  of  desires.     I  have  not  recommended 


MYSTICISM  43 

license.  I  have  in  no  way  given  anybody  an  excuse  for  any 
crime,  or  liberty  to  break  with  common  sense  morality.  I  have 
asked  for  a  more  dignified  attitude  to  yourself.  I  have  sug- 
gested a  revision  of  old  ideas,  ideas  that  have  proved  unhuman 
and  unnatural.  As  I  said,  the  Future  belongs  to  you!  The 
Future,  even  as  we  now  can  see  it,  is  vastly  different  from  the 
Past.  To  own  the  Future  you  must  endeavor  to  find  out  the  ten- 
dencies that  sway  the  moment  you  now  live  in,  and  the  tenden- 
cies, I  say,  are  in  the  direction  of  a  thorough  revision  of  our 
ideas  about  the  senses,  the  flesh. 

It  is  not  only  our  ideas  of  the  senses,  that  need  recasting. 
Our  attitude  to  Reason  is  also  false,  and  must  be  corrected.  I 
think  you  can  see  that  by  a  reform  of  our  sense  ideas  and  by 
deeper  understanding  of  Reason,  we  shall  rise  to  a  higher  level 
than  the  mystics  of  the  past,  and,  we  shall  be  much  richer  in  our 
existence.  Browning  wrote,  "man  is  not  man  as  yet,"  but,  I 
say,  we  may  now  become  man.  And  how?  In  the  first  place  by 
cultivating  immediacy  of  the  feelings.  By  feelings,  the  mystics 
and  Inner  Life  people  do  not  understand  perceptions  as  they  are 
defined  in  psychology.  They  mean  divine  gifts,  graces,  spir- 
itual intuitions,  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  Image  as  I  defined  it  in 
my  last  lecture.  Secondly,  "man  may  become  a  man"  by  learn- 
ing from  the  Mother !  Or  to  put  it  in  a  phrase  more  familiar  to 
people  in  the  West.  We  must  learn  "to  live  according  to  Na- 
ture." "To  live  according  to  nature"  is  a  terribly  hackneyed 
phrase,  and  its  modern  originator,  J.  J.  Rousseau,  was  far  re- 
moved from  a  life  according  to  nature.  Nevertheless,  that 
phrase  would  express  the  highest  philosophy  were  it  but  under- 
stood rightly  and  practiced  correctly. 

In  the  West,  the  stoics  were  high  and  worthy  examples  of 
what  a  ' '  life  according  to  nature ' '  ought  to  be.  They  were  very 
near  to  the  truth.  If  you  have  no  better  plans  for  your  conduct, 
try  to  live  up  to  Marcus  Aurelius'  "Thoughts"  and  you  can  see 
for  yourself.  "To  live  according  to  nature"  is  sublime  exist- 
ence, but  to  live  a  "natural  life"  is  undesirable,  and,  it  is  that 
life  which  all  Inner  Life  teachers  oppose.  At  first  appearance 
the  difference  may  not  be  discovered,  but  it  is  there  and  the  dif- 
ference is  radical.  I  shall  come  back  often  to  this  subject  in 
future  chapters  and  fully  explain  the  difference  between  the 
phrases. 

I  think  that  I  shall  here  and  now  meet  Mathew  Arnold's 
onslaught.  In  a  poem  entitled  "No  Harmony  with  Nature,"  he 
wrote 


44  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

"In  harmony  with  Nature?    Restless  fool 
Who  with  such  heat  dost  preach  what  were  to  thee, 
When  true,  the  last  impossibility — 

To  be  like  Nature  strong,  like  Nature  cool!" 

I  will  meet  this  onslaught  with  the  remarks  made  by 
Chwang-Tzu,  a  Chinese  commentator  on  the  Tao-Teh-King. 
Chwang-Tzu  wisely  said,  "You  cannot  speak  of  the  ocean  to  a 
well-frog,  the  creature  of  a  narrower  sphere ;  you  cannot  speak 
of  ice  to  a  summer  insect,  a  creature  of  the  season.  You  cannot 
speak  of  Tao  to  a  pedagogue;  his  scope  is  too  restricted."  I 
think  Mathew  Arnold,  the  schoolmaster,  has  been  fully  answered 
by  that,  and,  moreover,  a  couple  thousand  years  before  he  was 
born.  The  same  Arnold  went  on  in  the  same  poem  slandering 
Nature.  Like  Tennyson,  who  wrote  so  many  false  lines  on  Na- 
ture, he  was  influenced  by  some  of  the  misconceptions  that  in- 
hered in  the  first  presentation  of  the  doctrine  of  Evolution. 
Both  charged  Nature  with  being  "cruel"  and  exonerated  Man, 
whom  they  claimed  was  "sick  of  blood."  A  stupid  and  ignor- 
ant boy  may  be  kissed  and  petted  by  a  fond  mother  and  the  rude 
world  blamed  for  not  taking  kindly  to  her  darling.  Nature  does 
not  care  for  such  a  boy.  So  these  men,  small  as  they  were  made 
by  class  room  and  boudoir,  found  the  sympathy  and  help  they 
called  for  in  clubs  and  conventional  drawing  rooms  and  claimed 
that  Nature  was  heartless  and  cruel.  None  of  them  ever  told  us 
how  they  had  followed  the  sun  across  the  sky  for  a  day,  or  seen 
the  moon  shine  upon  Diana  in  the  bath  in  some  secreted  lake  in 
the  woods.  Guess  they  had  no  such  experience !  Nature  would 
never  sympathize  with  them !  How  could  she?  They  never  had 
watched  the  opening  and  closing  of  a  flower;  the  blowing  of  the 
bud ;  the  movements  of  a  star  fish  or  the  formation  and  re-for- 
mation of  clouds.  Such  people  do  not  perceive  Nature's  Inner 
Life,  or  man's  eternal  longings.  Nature  is  Spirit  visible  and 
Spirit  is  Nature  invisible. 

They  both  maintained  that  "Nature  and  man  can  never  be 
fast  friends."  Both  of  these  two  are  like  the  prisoners  in 
Plato's  cave,  who  sit  chained  to  the  rock  and  with  their  backs  to 
the  very  small  opening  that  leads  into  the  cave  and  through  which 
comes  the  only  ray  of  light  that  ever  comes  to  the  eyes  of  these 
prisoners.  Being  unable  to  turn  round,  the  little  they  see  are 
faint  shadows  on  the  rocks  in  front  of  them.  As  a  matter  of 
course,  in  such  people  we  can  find  no  cosmic  emotion,  no  yearn- 


MYSTICISM  45 

ing  to  feel  the  pulses  of  the  great  heart  of  the  universe.  They 
know  neither  visible  spirit,  nor  invisible  Nature.  They  are  for- 
ever strangers  to  the  Mother's  voice  and  have  never  felt  her 
Presence.  I  need  not  say  any  more;  your  own  acquaintance 
with  Mathew  Arnold  and  Tennyson's  poems  has  told  you  that 
they  were  not  Nature  lovers.  I  am  sure  you  will  not  fear  a 
study  of  a  life  ' '  according  to  nature ' '  because  these  two  did  not 
live  according  to  nature,  but  in  an  atmosphere  filled  with  phan- 
tasms of  human  greatness. 

I  trust  that  my  hearers  will  not  misunderstand  my  words 
about  a  "life  according  to  Nature"  to  mean  a  recommendation 
of  that  which  in  modern  literature  and  philosophy  goes  by  name 
of  Naturalism.  I  mean  nothing  of  the  kind.  Naturalism  in  this 
sense  means  perverted  and  degenerate  human  nature.  By  ' '  life 
according  to  Nature,"  when  I  use  the  phrase,  I  mean  Nature- 
Mysticism,  and  of  that  you  shall  hear  more  in  later  talks.  Nat- 
uralism I  condemn  in  all  its  ways  and  forms.  It  is  the  cause  of 
the  moral  decay  of  to-day. 

Quite  often  some  say,  to  compliment  another:  "he  is  a 
strong  nature,"  or  "he  is  a  strong  man,"  but  the  phrase  is  a 
very  doubtful  one.  Its  value  depends  upon  whence  this  man 
derives  his  strength.  A  strong  man  may  be  a  "big  stick"  and 
as  such  have  his  way  and  will,  a  way  and  will  that  the  community 
may  need,  because  the  community  develops  on  selfish  and  nat- 
ural lines.  But  that  very  man  is  in  all  probability  a  weak  man 
and  a  man  of  desires,  and  a  mere  baby  in  the  Inner  Life.  Such 
a  man  may  possibly  be  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  cosmic  energy, 
but  for  all  that  not  create  any  spiritual  force  for  others  or  for 
himself.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  in  the  world  the  so-called 
"silent  in  the  land;"  those  of  whom  you  never  hear  till  by  acci- 
dent you  come  across  them;  those  who  so  "empty"  (Kenosis) 
themselves,  that  really  they  do  not  live,  but  somebody  else  lives 
upon  them  and  in  their  stead;  those  whose  only  motto  is  "not 
as  I  will."  These  are  the  strong  people,  because  their  silences 
are  eternal  work;  their  "emptiness"  prevents  strife,  and  their 
non-assertions  of  will  establishes  Unity,  and  thereby  they  be- 
come patterns  for  all  the  world. 

The  Inner  Life  loves  silence  and  solitude;  but  it  can  also 
hear  the  divine  voice  in  the  roar  of  hell,  and  it  can  see  the  divine 
face  in  the  market  place  as  well  as  in  mountain  fastnesses  or  by 
"the  sea.  The  Inner  Life  does  not  love  the  passing  show,  but  is 
not  offended  by  vulgarity,  nor  does  it  condemn  bearers  of  evil, 


46  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

It  exists  beyond  such  things.  Rabia  was  asked  if  she  hated  evil, 
to  which  she  answered  that  inasmuch  as  she  loved  God  always, 
she  had  no  time  to  hate  evil. 

Mystics  ignorant  of  true  methods  and  without  guides  have 
given  fight  to  their  desires  in  various  ways,  and  unfortunately 
readers  of  these  reported  fights  have  only  too  often  been  led  to 
repeat  these  fights,  hence  the  overflow  of  ascetic  advice  in  mystic 
books.  Some  mystics  denying  the  desires  dammed  up  for  them, 
have  found  all  dams  swept  away  and  themselves  besides.  Other 
mystics  have  weakened  the  desires  by  diverting  their  forces,  as 
one  does  with  mountain  torrents  in  order  to  break  their  power. 
None  of  these  imderstood  that  the  human  passions  are  human 
parallels  to  the  subterranean  fires,  which  from  time  to  time 
break  forth  in  earthquakes;  nor  did  they  understand  that  pas- 
sions are  the  vortex-powers  of  devastating  tornadoes;  powers 
terrible  to  us,  foreign  to  us,  yet  nevertheless  engines  of  the  di- 
vine workings.  Other  Mystics  have  led  the  waters  of  passion 
into  irrigating  canals  and  thus  added  great  strength  and  fruit- 
fulness  to  their  natural  gifts.  Such  Mystics  were  not  far  from 
the  truth.  Other  mystics  have  even  given  themselves  over  to 
desires,  calling  them  heavenly  fires  and  divine  messengers.  But 
fools  they  were,  and,  soon  they  ended  by  burning  themselves  in 
these  fires.  All  this  relates  to  one  side  of  our  nature,  the  side 
we  are  to  fight,  to  ' '  regulate, "  to  '  *  kill  out, ' '  the  desire  life.  All 
Eastern  treatises  are  especially  emphatic  on  this  subject.  East- 
ern passions  and  desires  are  so  much  more  violent  than  ours  and 
they  need  much  more  radical  means  for  suppression. 

Now  about  another  side  of  our  nature,  equally  in  our  way 
and  needing  "  overcoming. ' '  I  mean  our  intellectual  proclivi- 
ties :  and  they  are  especially  a  "Western  sin.  I  do  not  wish  to 
speak  in  paradoxes,  but  I  am  almost  tempted  to  say  that  ignor- 
ance is  the  best  soil  for  Mysticism.  Mysticism  is  not  literary 
religion,  it  is  Wisdom-religion.  " Learning  is  the  perception  of 
differences.  Wisdom  is  the  perception  of  similarities."  As  it 
is,  Mysticism  can  do  without  learning.  "He  has  scarce  thought 
to  any  purpose  who  has  not  thought  beyond  words;  who  has  not 
thought  long  enough,  deep  enough,  fruitfully  enough,  to  encoun- 
ter, somewhere,  glimmerings  of  truth  untranslatable  into 
words."  The  Mystic,  he  of  the  Inner  Life,  has  thought  intense- 
ly, that  is  why  he  needs  no  words,  no  learning.    He  possesses 


MYSTICISM  47 

the  Word.  And  lie  loves  God  and  the  neighbor,  and  he  knows 
intuitively.  Says  the  Tao-Teh-King :  ''Dispense  with  learning 
and  save  yourself  anxiety."  Mystics  and  Inner  Life  people 
could  not  be  caught  in  Descarte's  delusion:  Cogito,  ergo  sum: 
"I  think,  consequently  I  am."  "Cogito"  to  the  mystic  means 
"coagito,"  that  is  to  say,  "I  act  and  I  think,"  because  "action" 
or  "thought"  takes  place  in  him.  He  is  not  the  actor  nor  "the 
thinker. ' ' 

Mysticism  stands  sharply  over  against  "desires"  and 
against ' '  intellect, ' '  when  these  usurp  the  place  of  wisdom.  In- 
tellect is  impotent  to  penetrate  beyond  the  phenomenal  world  to 
a  vision  of  a  reality  transcending  sense.  Intellect  is  merely  a 
land  surveyor,  and  is  neither  the  land  nor  is  it  the  owner  of  the 
land.  The  Ego  is  both  the  land  and  the  owner  of  the  land,  and 
it  uses  intellect  merely  as  timekeeper  and  as  a  fence  around  its 
"space"  or  land,  just  as  the  Ego  uses  its  other  faculties.  The 
intellect  is  thus  a  tool,  a  comparative  faculty,  and  no  more.  As 
a  comparative  faculty,  it  judges  of  relations,  of  forms,  forms  of 
mind  and  forms  of  the  object.  But  of  essence,  the  intellect 
knows  nothing  and  can  know  nothing.  Intellect  is  analytic  and 
can  only  concern  itself  with  one  point  at  the  time.  It  lacks  to- 
tally comprehensiveness,  the  ALL  embracing  power.  It  is 
"conceptual  thinking"  only,  or,  which  is  the  same,  "we  think  by 
means  of  something  else ' '  and  not  absolutely.  Mysticism  wants 
the  absolute.  And  this  is  the  definition  of  intellect  by  Mysticism 
of  all  ages  and  lands.  Mysticism  wants  Essence,  Being,  and 
not  Form  merely,  hence  it  has  always  stood  apart  from  intellect 
and  the  limited  knowledge  it  can  give,  and,  relegated  it  to 
lower  places.  By  intellectual  search  we  cannot  find  out  the  Di- 
vine; we  may  nevertheless  have  communion  or  fellowship  with 
it,  namely,  in  heart  and  feeling. 

The  mystics  of  all  ages,  first  clear  the  ground,  then  they 
plow  and  then  they  sow.  Mysticism  has  always  been  (1)  first 
a  protest,  then  (2)  a  positive  content.  After  it  has  denied  the 
power  of  intellect  to  teach  us  about  Essence,  or  Being,  and  de- 
clared that  intellect  cannot  reveal  Essence  or  Being,  it  tells  us 
that  we,  in  virtue  of  our  Ego,  possess  a  power  that  is  equal  to 
reach  up  to  the  Divine  and  the  Universal,  and,  which  is  equal  to 
bring  us  into  union  with  it.  This  faculty,  which  answers  to 
Kant's  (so-called)  "practical  reason"  has  many  names.  In  the 
West,  the  mystics  of  Germany  call  it  "the  spark  of  the  soul," 
"the  ground  of  the  soul."  and  very  characteristically  they  call 


48  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KINQ 

it  also  " synthesis ; "  and  rightly  they  call  the  intellect  "analy- 
sis." The  mystics  are  sympathetic  people;  they  gather  to- 
gether ;  they  do  not  shatter. 

The  illusory  phenomenon  is  always  in  the  way.  How  shall 
the  soul  pass  from  the  phenomenon  to  the  noumenon?  Human 
understanding,  Echardt  reiterates,  is  useless  in  this  matter.  It 
can  perceive  things  in  time  and  space  only.  The  soul  must 
therefore  try  to  attain  what  ordinarily  will  be  called  absolute 
ignorance  and  darkness,  but  which  mystics  call  "the  nothing  of 
nothing"  and  of  which  the  soul  cannot  and  must  not  try  to  form 
any  conception.  It  is  not  by  an  intellectual  development,  but 
by  sheer  passivity,  by  waiting  for  the  transcendal  action  of  God 
that  the  soul  can  attain  the  highest  knowledge.  That  ignorance 
here  recommended  is  not  that  blindness  of  mind,  that  untaught, 
that  un-informed  condition  which  that  word  ordinarily  repre- 
sents; it  is  a  condition  in  which  the  soul  separates  itself  from 
the  phenomenal  world;  voluntarily  renounces  all  sensuous  activ- 
ity and  even  ceases  to  think  under  the  old  forms.  When  the 
soul  attains  the  nescience,  then  the  soul  is  re-born;  is  in  the 
Supreme.  Though  poor  in  spirit  and  having  nothing,  willing 
nothing,  knowing  nothing,  the  soul  is  in  the  highest  and  ap- 
proaching union  with  God.  Examined  more  closely  it  will  be 
seen  that  here  is  no  illogical  contradictions,  nor  foolish  ascetic- 
ism. As  John  of  the  Cross  said:  "Spiritual  things  transcend 
sense,  because  they  already  include  it,"  hence  this  passivity  or 
negativity  is  formal  only,  and  not  real.  The  mystic  has  simply 
chosen  the  better  part.  From  now  on  the  soul  lives  in  another 
world.  In  the  East,  where  this  is  so  well  understood,  they  say 
that  now  the  soul  is  in  Sat-Chit-Ananda,  in  Being-Knowledge- 
Bliss.  Meister  Eckardt  says  that  now  God  takes  the  place  of 
the  active  reason.  The  soul  has  returned  to  the  state  in  which 
it  was  before  entering  the  phenomenal  world ;  but  it  has  not  re- 
turned empty  handed,  nay  it  has  returned  plus  a  recognition  of 
itself  as  idea  in  God.  Henceforth,  to  use  a  term  from  Spinoza, 
it  sees  everything  sub  specie  eternitatis.  Separated  from  man, 
from  the  external  things,  from  chance,  distractions  and  troubles 
it  sees  only  Reality. 

I  have  nothing  to  say  against  mystics  or  against  Inner  Life 
people  who  reduce  intellect  to  its  place  and  refuse  it  permission 
to  deal  with  spiritual  things.  But  I  have  much  against  any  so- 
called  religious  or  other  person  who  denies  Reason.  The  true 
mystic  and  the  Inner  Life  people  build  their  temples  with  stones 


MYSTICISM  49 

and  timber  furnished  by  Reason  or  Tao,  and,  out  of  nothing  else, 
and  they  know  that  temples  are  adaptations  and  symbols.  Do 
you  know  what  the  word  temple  means?  Well,  originally  a 
temple  was  not  a  house  of  prayer  for  the  multitude,  nor,  a  shrine 
or  sanctuary  of  a  god.  The  "templum"  was  a  certain  place 
"cut  off"  (  rtuvw  ),  as  the  term  means,  and  set  apart  by 
augurs,  and,  it  included  also  that  part  of  the  heavens  which  was 
visible  above  this  "cut  off"  place  when  one  stood  in  the  middle  of 
it ;  of  course,  it  was  not  a  building  with  a  roof,  and  when  it  was  a 
building  it  had  no  roof.  The  "templum"  was  then  really  a 
space  set  apart  and  nothing  else.  Intellectually  there  is  nothing 
tangible  in  such  a  space,  but  to  Reason,  or  the  highest  sense, 
there  is  in  it  a  consecrated  form  of  intercommunion  between 
heaven  and  the  soul.  Anywhere,  and  wherever  the  human  heart 
stands  in  the  Inner  Life,  it  builds  such  a  ' '  templum. ' ' 

Do  not  compare  this  mystery  to  astrology  of  the  kind  of  "a 
penny  in  the  slot,"  or  "around  the  corner."  It  has  nothing  to 
do  with  astrology.  The  space  is  not  a  locality  in  the  sense  that 
its  earth-place  is  any  more  sacred  than  any  other  place  on  earth. 
Its  space  is  merely  pointed  out  by  means  of  a  place  and  is  in  no 
wise  tangible.  If  we  had  an  augur  here  and  asked  him  to  show 
us  the  space  of  his  temple  he  would  point  to  a  part  or  section 
of  the  sky  and  tell  us  where  he  saw  a  certain  section  of  the  sky, 
there  would  be  his  temple.  If  he  should  take  you  to  the  top  of 
a  mountain  or  to  the  bottom  of  a  valley  and  say :  here  is  my  tem- 
ple !  you  would  still  remain  ignorant  of  what  he  meant,  even  if 
you  saw  a  magnificent  building  and  numerous  priests.  If  you 
have  the  Inner  Life  of  a  mystic  or  theosoph  you  would  know 
the  mystery,  however.  The  augurs  of  old  from  such  a  house 
without  roof  read  the  signs  of  the  heavens ;  the  Inner  Life  peo- 
ple now  hear  The  Word  in  their  temple,  not  built  of  stones,  but 
of  Reason.  They  see  the  law  for  themselves  and  see  it  written 
in  the  Kosmos  without  any  augur  or  other  middleman. 

You  will  now  understand  why  the  true  mystic  reveres  Rea- 
son. It  is  because  Reason  builds  his  temple;  not  a  common 
meeting  place,  but  his  individual  space  (not  place).  Reason  is 
Tao,  the  main  subject  of  the  Tao-Teh-King  on  which  I  shall  talk 
to  you.  And  you  shall  hear  much  about  Tao,  which  means  both 
Life — Truth — Way — Reason.  Reason  or  Tao  is  not  an  abstrac- 
tion, but  the  constructive  and  combining  power,  which  out  of  it- 
self builds  up  the  form  or  body  in  which  the  Image  manifests 
itself.     What  the  Image  is,  I  denned  in  my  last  talk.     Reason  is 


50  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Form,  or  Consciousness.  Whatever  we  may  call  it,  without 
Reason  there  would  be  no  manifestation  of  our  real  life. 

We  say  that  we  see  this  object  or  that,  but  we  do  not.  Out 
eyes  do  not  see  it,  but  through  our  eyes  we  see  forms,  and  Form 
manifested. 

When  Moses  saw  the  burning  bush,  or  Jesus  the  descending 
dove,  or  the  disciples  saw  the  three  figures  at  the  time  of  the 
transfiguration,  or  when  Arjuna  saw  the  divine  forms  in  nature, 
they  all  saw  through  their  eyes  not  with  them.  To  explain  what 
I  mean  by  looking  through  the  eyes,  I  will  borrow  a  little  from 
Fiona  Macleod  (William  Sharp).  The  illustration  will  be  much 
more  effective  than  words  of  mme.  The  publication  was  called 
"The  Divine  Adventure"  and  was  first  published  in  the  Fort- 
nightly Review  and  later  in  book  form.  The  story  is  about 
1 '  Three  in  One, ' '  that  is,  Body,  Will  and  Soul  traveling  together 
in  a  night  full  of  beauty  and  suddenly  coming  upon  a  secret 
garden  of  ilex  and  tall  cypresses,  which  rose  like  dark  flowers 
out  of  the  ground.  Flickering  moonlight  lit  up  between  the 
trees ;  the  wild  foxes  barked  in  the  distance  and  owls  hooted  near 
by.  ' '  Look, ' '  said  the  Body,  and  there  on  the  mossy  slope  under 
seven  great  cypresses  lay  a  man  asleep  on  the  ground.  In  the 
moonshine  his  face  looked  beautiful,  and,  as  if  great  sorrows 
had  ached  the  heart.  After  a  little  it  appeared  that  the  sleeper 
was  not  alone,  but  that  there  were  eleven  others,  lying  about, 
also  asleep.  Only  one  of  them  was  sitting  upright  as  if  he  were 
the  watchman  of  the  hour,  though  slumbering  at  his  post.  Still 
another,  the  twelfth  one,  sat  behind  the  great  bole  of  a  tree. 
Suddenly  the  spell  was  broken;  the  vision  vanished  far  off 
among  the  hills,  foxes  barked,  and,  the  owls  hooted  nearby.  All 
else  was  still.  This  was  what  the  whole  man,  the  "three  in 
one,"  saw — through  the  eyes  in  part,  and,  in  part  with  the  eyes. 

Individually,  the  Body,  evidently  with  the  eyes,  had  seen  in 
the  sleepers  worn  and  poor  men,  ill-clad  and  weary,  and,  instead 
of  the  one  sitting  behind  the  tree,  a  company  of  evil  men  with 
savage  faces  and  drawn  swords. 

Individually,  the  Will,  evidently  also  with  the  eyes,  had  seen 
only  a  fire  drowning  in  its  own  ashes,  and  round  about  a  mass  of 
leaves  blown  hither  and  thither  by  the  wind. 

Individually,  the  Soul,  evidently  through  the  eyes,  had  seen 
Divine  Love  asleep;  not  sleeping  as  mortals  sleep,  but  resting  in 
o  holy,  quiet,  brooding  peace  and  in  communion  with  Eternal 
Jov.     Around  Love  were  the  FJeven  Powers  and  Dominions  of 


MYSTICISM  51 

the  World.  And  the  one  that  had  caused  surprise  by  his  ap- 
pearance was  the  Lord  of  Shadows,  whom  some  call  Death, 
others  the  Unknown  God.  Behind  were  demons  and  demoniacs. 
The  forest  itself  was  made  of  human  souls  awaiting  God. 

Perhaps  the  story  may  awaken  in  you  a  recollection  of  sim- 
ilar experiences;  if  not  so  romantic,  perhaps  alike  anyhow.  I 
am  happy  to  say  that  I  have  had  experiences  of  the  kind  as  just 
described.  I  remember  William  Blake  to  have  said,  according 
to  his  biographers,  that  he,  of  course,  saw  the  Sun  set  like  a  big 
flaming  ball,  not  unlike  a  guinea.  "But,"  said  he,  according  to 
report,  "through  my  eyes,  I  also  see  hosts  of  angels  pass  up  and 
down  singing:  'Glory!  Glory!  God  on  High!'  " 

Friends!  I  think  it  is  well,  not  to  be  hasty  and  condemn 
others  who  describe  a  scenery  which  we  may  not  have  seen.  One 
of  the  party  may  have  seen  with  the  eyes,  the  other  through  the 
eyes.  Some  see  the  moon,  others  the  moonlight ;  which  is  most 
bewitching?    Who  sees  best? 

Now  to  return  to  my  argument.  I  want  to  point  out  how 
many  people  come  to  call  Idealism  Mysticism,  and  to  believe  that 
Idealism  constitutes  the  Inner  Life.  A  sad  mistake.  It  is  quite 
true  that  we  speak  correctly  at  times  when  we  say  that  Form  or 
Consciousness  is  all  there  is.  That  is,  for  instance,  the  refrain 
of  all  the  Upanishads,  and  thus  summed  up  it  is  one  of  the  main 
teachings  of  Vedanta.  It  is  true,  I  say,  that  it  is  all  there  is, 
but  only  to  us.  Only  to  us !  Whether  it  is  all  there  is  to  other 
beings,  we  do  not  know;  in  all  probability  it  is  not.  That  Form 
or  Consciousness  must  be  ours;  it  could  not  be  that  of  other 
beings.  Nor  can  it  be  said  absolutely  that  Form  or  Conscious- 
ness is  all  there  is,  for  manifestly  Form  or  Consciousness  de- 
pends upon  Substance.  Substance,  to  be  sure,  is  unknown  to  us, 
but  that  does  not  change  the  case;  whatever  there  is,  there  is 
and  must  be  Something  back  of  Form  or  Consciousness. 

All  this  has  a  direct  bearing  upon  what  we  call  knowledge. 
All  we  know  is,  as  was  said,  Form  or  Consciousness  and  not  Sub- 
stance. In  the  West  we  identify  our  knowledge  of  Form  with 
Reality,  and  that  is  false.  Most  of  us  in  the  West  are  therefore 
idealists  and  not  mystics.  True  mystics,  alone  of  all,  discover 
the  fallacy  and  reject  the  claims  for  Consciousness.  They  want 
to  go  behind  it.     Idealism  is  by  no  means  enough  for  them. 

Mystics,  as  well  as  a  great  many  other  people,  even  profes- 
sional philosophers,  must  learn  to  distinguish  between  knowl- 
edge and  reality.     The  besetting  sin  in  the  West  is  to  confound 


52  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

knowledge  with  reality.  The  "West  has  a  doctrine,  commonly 
held  among  philosophers,  that  says  that  "knowledge  is  a  copy  of 
the  real  world  outside  us. "  In  it  lies  the  same  error  as  that  the 
wayfarer  so  readily  falls  into,  that  is,  mistaking  a  fallen  branch 
in  the  road  for  a  snake.  Knowledge  is  a  copy  of  the  outside 
world  for  us,  but  not  a  real  copy,  and  the  difference  is  enormous. 
The  mistake  is  a  fallacy  which  lies  at  the  root  of  all  Western 
philosophy  and  it  is  as  pernicious  as  the  phantasms  that  the  de- 
sires originate,  and,  as  destructive  as  those  phantasms.  Knowl- 
edge is  of  our  making.  The  Keality  behind  the  appearance  is 
and  remains  unknown. 

When  the  mystic  degree  of  our  mind  opens,  we  discover  the 
fallacy  and  we  care  no  more  for  scholastic  knowledge  or  mere 
Idealism.  In  the  mystic  degree  the  real  knowledge  appears. 
That  knowledge  is  no  more  our  knowledge,  it  is  both  our  knowl- 
edge and  the  universal  knowledge.  We  call  it  no  more  knowl- 
edge, it  is  Wisdom.  And  Wisdom  is  first  of  all,  "flight  from  all 
positive  content  as  from  a  limitation,"  next  it  is  pure  thought, 
pure  thought  from  the  Inner  Life  sources.  It  is  not  so  much  a 
medium  necessary  in  this  life,  it  is  rather  the  sum  total  of  that 
larger  life,  which  some  know  now,  but  which  all  will  reach  some- 
time, when  they  become  free.  But  while  the  humdrum  of  daily 
life  calls  for  no  wisdom,  we  should  nevertheless  dissolve  this 
humdrum  into  its  spiritual  elements  and  let  these  elements  per- 
meate our  daily  existence.  It  is  marvelous  how  easy  life  be- 
comes that  way.  It  is  wonderful  how  we  renew  ourselves.  In- 
deed, it  is  true,  as  Hermas  Pastor  a  thousand  and  more  years 
ago  said,  "that  those  who  regenerate,  grow  young."  The  New 
Mysticism  is  alive  to  this  and  lives  that  way.  Vedanta  is 
merely  Idealism  and  a  sublime  form  of  mind,  and  not  enough 
for  the  future  man,  the  man  of  the  New  Age,  the  man  that  lives 
the  Inner  Life.  Vedanta  and  Idealism  are  one  of  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  bridge,  I  spoke  of  in  the  first  chapter  or  the 
voice  that  we  in  the  West  call  Platonism,  spoken  of  in  the  second 
chapter. 

Mystics  and  theosophists  of  highest  order  go  behind  con- 
sciousness, or  to  use  the  phrase  used  before,  they  see  through 
their  eyes.  And  what  do  they  see?  They  see  the  World  of 
Reason,  the  Archetypes,  or,  if  I  may  call  it  so,  they  see  the  heav- 
enly machinery  and  they  experience  great  happiness.  From  my 
own  experience  with  Beauty  and  art  objects,  I  can  say  that  by  a 
little  practice  you  can  look  so  long  upon  the  symbol  before  you 


MYSTICISM  53 

that  the  symbol  becomes  life  and  reality.  At  such  moments  and 
for  sometime  after,  you  transcend  your  actual  self  and  know 
positively  that  you  are  beyond  yourself.  All  of  this  will  be  of 
importance  in  the  study  of  the  Tao-Teh-King  which  is  a  mystical 
book,  and  it  will  enable  you  to  find  the  Inner  Life  by  a  study  of 
that  book. 

Thus  far,  I  have  dealt  with  laws  of  nature.  Now  I  will  give 
you  a  few  historic  facts  to  show  what  the  mystics,  the  Inner  Life 
people,  are  good  for. 

Wherever  we  find  Mysticism,  we  find  it  in  either  of  two 
forms :  two  forms  which  answer  to  the  two  voices  and  the  two  ap- 
proaches to  the  bridge  spoken  of  in  my  former  chapter. 

(1)  The  one  form  is  active  and  represented  by  such  mystics 
as,  for  instance,  those  of  the  Rhine  Valley.  It  is  history,  that 
these  mystics,  during  the  Black  Death  (1348-1349)  and  during 
the  Interdict  which  lasted  more  than  twenty  years,  utterly  ig- 
nored the  pope's  orders.  An  interdict  means  that  all  bells  are 
silenced,  that  penance  and  the  eucharist  is  administered  only  to 
the  dying;  that  none  but  priests,  friars  and  children  under  two 
years  can  get  Christian  burial  and  that  none  can  be  married. 
The  loss  of  these  religious  forms  means  terrible  suffering  in 
Catholic  countries.  But  the  mystics  buried  the  dead,  married 
the  living  and  said  mass  regularly.  During  the  Black  Death, 
which  ravaged  the  Rhine  Valley  and  adjoining  parts  of  France 
most  terribly,  the  regular  clergy  could  not  even  for  money  be 
induced  to  bury  people,  nor  to  visit  the  sick  or  dying,  nor  to  say 
mass  for  them.  In  many  places  they  deserted  their  parishes. 
But  mystics  of  the  orders  of  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans 
officiated  in  all  cases,  and  there  is  no  record  that  any  of  them 
died  of  the  Pest.  This  is  active  Mysticism.  Not  a  bad  kind,  is 
it?     The  other  form  of  Mysticism  is  quietistic. 

(2)  In  this  group  1  place  people  who  live  in  their  deepest 
nature ; 

" beyond  the  things  of  sense, 

Beyond  occasions  and  events, 

And  who,  through  God 's  exceeding  grace 

Know  release  from  form,  and  time  and  place;" 

(Whittier) 

I  shall  describe  these  people  by  a  story  or  two  attributed  to 
the  famous  John  Tauler  and  you  will  please  note  that  this  beg- 
gar I  describe  is  not  held  up  before  you  as  an  example  because 


54  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

he  is  a  beggar,  but  because  he  is  a  free  man ;  a  man  who  lives  in 
the  Ground  of  the  soul,  as  the  mystics  call  it.  In  silence  he  has 
discovered  the  Divine  Self  in  himself  and  is  able  to  teach  the 
learned,  but  as  yet  un-free  Dr.  Tauler.  With  this  in  mind  the 
following  queer  story  will  not  sound  unreasonable  and  you  will 
understand  the  quietistic  mystic.     This  is  the  story. 

There  was  once  a  learned  man  who  longed  and  prayed  full 
eight  years  that  God  would  show  him  some  one  to  teach  him  the 
way  of  truth.  And  on  a  time,  when  he  was  in  great  longing, 
there  came  unto  him  a  voice  from  heaven,  and  said :  ' '  Go  to  the 
front  of  the  Church,  there  thou  wilt  find  a  man  that  shall  show 
thee  the  way  to  blessedness."  So  thither  he  went,  and  found 
there  a  poor  man,  whose  feet  were  torn,  and  covered  with  dust 
and  dirt,  and  all  his  clothing  scarce  worth  three  cents.  He 
greeted  him  saying:  "God  give  thee  good  morrow."  To  this 
the  poor  man  answered:  "I  never  had  ill  morrow!"  Again  he 
said:  ''God  prosper  thee,"  to  which  the  other  answered:  "Never 
had  I  ought  but  prosperity" — "Heaven  save  thee,"  said  the 
scholar,  "How  answerest  thou  me  so?"  only  to  receive  the  re- 
ply: "I  was  never  other  than  saved." 

The  scholar  was  perplexed  and  said:  "Explain  this  to  me, 
for  I  do  not  understand." 

"Willingly,"  quoth  the  poor  man,  "Thou  wishest  me  good 
morrow.  I  never  had  an  ill  morrow;  for  am  I  an  hungered,  I 
praise  God;  am  I  freezing,  doth  it  hail,  snow,  rain,  is  it  fair 
weather  or  foul,  I  praise  God ;  and  therefore  had  I  never  ill  mor- 
row. 

"Thou  didst  say,  God  prosper  thee.  I  have  never  been  un- 
prosperous,  for  I  know  how  to  live  with  God ;  I  know  that  what 
He  doeth  is  the  best,  and  what  God  giveth  or  ordaineth  for  me, 
be  it  pain  or  pleasure,  that  I  take  cheerfully  from  Him  as  the 
best  of  all,  and,  so  I  have  never  adversity. 

"Thou  wishest  God  to  bless  me.  I  was  never  unblessed,  for 
I  desire  to  be  only  in  the  will  of  God,  and  I  have  so  given  up  my 
will  to  the  will  ofGod,  that  what  God  willeth  I  will." 

"But  if  God  were  to  cast  thee  into  hell,"  said  the  scholar, 
"what  wouldst  thou  do  then?" 

"Cast  me  into  hell?  His  goodness  holds  Him  back  there- 
from. Yet  if  He  did,  I  should  have  two  arms  to  embrace  Him 
withal,  and  even  so,  I  would  sooner  be  in  hell  and  have  God, 
than  in  heaven  and  not  have  Him." 

Then  understood  the  scholar  that  true  abandonment  with 
utter  abasement  was  the  nearest  way  to  God. 


MYSTICISM  55 

Again  the  scholar  asked  the  poor  man:  "From  whence 
comest  thou  ? "  "  From  God. "  "  Where  has  thou  found  God  ? ' ' 
"Where  I  abandoned  all  creatures!  I  am  a  King.  My  king- 
dom is  my  soul.  This  kingdom  is  greater  than  any  kingdom  on 
the  earth." 

"What  hath  brought  thee  to  this  perfection?"  "My  si- 
lence, my  heavenward  thoughts  and  my  union  with  God." 

This  is  life;  this  is  simplicity.  Not  only  did  this  beggar 
have  life,  he  was  life.  And  the  report  is  that  Dr.  Tauler  was  so 
struck  with  this  man  and  this  meeting,  that  he  gave  up  his 
preaching  and  withdrew  for  seven  years  to  the  Oberland.  When 
he  returned  he  became  the  famous  mystic,  now  so  well  known  in 
history.  What  had  happened  to  the  beggar  which  made  him  so 
great  in  life  and  so  profound  in  knowledge,  though  he  externally 
was  nothing?  What  did  he  rest  on?  He  had  learned  that  "it 
is  the  ground  we  do  not  tread  upon  which  supports  us."  This 
ground  is  Tao,  of  which  more  later.  If  you  analyze  this  story, 
what  will  it  prove  or  demonstrate?  If  we  read  it  "syntheti- 
cally?" The  "poor  beggar"  is  certainly  not  "poor  in  spirit," 
nor  is  his  mind  covered  with  "dust  and  dirt;"  and  though  his 
clothing  may  not  be  worth  "three  cents,"  his  spiritual  superior- 
ity is  beyond  price.  He  meets  the  "learned  man's"  greetings 
with  a  parry  every  time  as  if  they  were  sword  cuts,  and  he  re- 
futes what  he  considers  insinuations  and  radical  misunderstand- 
ings of  life's  true  order  and  the  rationality  of  existence.  When 
finally  asked:  "From  whence  comest  Thou?"  he  gives  an  an- 
swer that  comprehends  all  further  and  now  unnecessary  details. 
"From  God."  By  that  answer  he  has  given  an  unequivocal  re- 
ply, such  as  all  mystics  would  give  upon  such  similar  questions. 
But  to  the  analytic  intellect,  he  has  given  no  answer.  Moreover, 
he  further  defines  himself  as  a  mystic  of  the  heart  by  the  answer 
he  gives  to  the  question:  "Where  hast  thou  found  God?"  His 
answer  was,  "Where  I  abandoned  all  creatures,"  and  that  "the 
learned  man"  should  be  in  no  further  doubt,  the  mystic  contin- 
ued triumphantly:  "I  am  a  king.  My  kingdom  is  my  soul.  This 
kingdom  is  greater  than  any  kingdom  on  the  earth."  All  this 
is  of  no  value  for  analysis ;  the  words  are  not  intellectual  state- 
ments. You  can  analyze  the  conceptions  "kingdom"  and 
"soul,"  but  you  cannot  "analyze"  this  synthetic  phrase:  "My 
kingdom  is  my  soul." 

This  is  a  specimen  of  a  mystic  of  the  heart,  a  theopathetic 
mystic,  that  is,  one  who  suffers  all  things.     Suffers! — not  neces- 


56  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

sarily  in  pain !  Nay,  one  who  is  passive !  One  who  has  under- 
stood the  mystery  of,  obedience  to  the  course  of  life,  no  matter 
what  it  may  be  phenomenally.  One,  whose  mind  is  not  bound 
in  Spanish  boots  of  logic,  but  who  has  experienced  the  freedom 
from  illusions  which  come  from  living  untrammeled  by  philo- 
sophical systems.  One,  who  knows  of  no  " eternal  no!"  who 
does  not  fret  at  hindrances,  who  does  not  try  to  force  locked 
doors,  one  who  blesses  drudgery,  one  who  fears  no  cross !  Lest 
this  word  "theopathetic"  trouble  you,  let  me  recall  to  your  mem- 
ory that  the  Greek  word  ^dsv  (Pate)  means  a  passive  state, 
hence  secondarily  suffering,  misfortune;  that  you  know  from 
your  Greek  dictionary,  and  it  is  well,  but  you  do  not  know  that 
mystics  consider  suffering  to  be  a  blessing  and  that  suffering  is 
a  normal  condition  to  them.  Mystics  invite  suffering  as  the 
best  monitor  against  becoming  entangled  in  illusions  and  sensual 
or  phenomenal  states.  Nobody  better  than  the  mystic  has  un- 
derstood the  educational  value  of  suffering.  This  mystic  is,  as  I 
said,  of  the  class  of  theopathetic  mystics,  common  in  the  south  of 
Europe,  France,  Spain,  Italy.  He  is  of  the  company  of  Mine. 
Guyon,  Molinos,  John  of  the  Cross,  Theresa,  Catherine  of  Siena. 
All  of  these  sang  like  Mme.  Guyon : 

"Love  is  my  teacher 


'Tis  Love  alone  can  tell  of  Love." 

'Tis  not  the  skill  of  human  art 
Which  gives  me  power  my  God  to  know; 
The  sacred  lessons  of  the  heart 
Come  not  from  instruments  below." 

You  notice  that  this  "poor  beggar"  upon  the  question: 
"Where  hast  thou  found  God?"  did  not  quote  any  philosophical 
system  or  enter  upon  any  discussion  on  the  "Path  to  Reality." 
He  is  not  troubled  with  epistemological  problems.  His  answer 
lies  on  no  intellectual  plan;  he  is  on  the  plan  of  immediacy,  the 
plan  of  simplicity,  and  because  he  has  abandoned  all  intellectual 
and  sensual  problems,  he  stands  in  the  principle  of  the  Whole 
and  answers  from  out  that  standpoint.  And  that  he  knows  his 
own  standpoint  and  is  in  full  self-conscious  possession  of  him- 
self, is  clear  from  his  final  answer  to  the  question,  "What  has 
brought  you  to  this  perfection!"  His  answer  was,  "My  silence. 
My   heavenward   thought  and  my  Union  with   God."     These 


MEISTER  ECKHAEDT  57 

words  could  not  and  have  not  been  transcended  by  any  philoso- 
pher or  any  philosophical  system.  This  mystic  knows  from  out 
his  own  soul  at  once  and  without  intellectual  training  that  which 
the  few  philosophers  who  have  attained  similar  knowledge  have 
only  attained  through  long  years  of  painful  thinking.  The 
heart  has  reasoning  powers  of  its  own  as  much  as  the  brain  and 
the  mind  have. 

Before,  in  a  former  chapter,  when  I  spoke  of  the  two  voices, 
I  at-oned  them  in  the  voice  of  the  ' '  Inner  Man !  Tao. ' '  When  I 
spoke  of  the  two  approaches  to  the  bridge,  I  declared  the  truth 
to  be  in  the  middle.  Here  are  two  forms  of  Mysticism.  How 
are  they  both  the  Inner  Life?  How  are  they  at-oned?  Place 
Nature  in  the  witness  box  and  you  shall  hear  her  declare  that 
she  is  double.  Sometimes  the  beast,  sometimes  the  beauty. 
Sometimes  Life,  sometimes  Death,  and  in  no  case  revealing  her- 
self fully.  She  speaks  to  us  incessantly,  yet  she  never  betrays 
her  mystery.  She  is  our  mother  and  that  explains  it.  Place 
Mind  in  the  witness  box  and  inquire  about  the  character  of  our 
language,  and  ideas,  our  conceptions  of  beauty,  or  religious  sym- 
bols, and  Mind  declares  that  an  inevitable  dualism  bisects  nature 
and  mind,  and,  that  unity  is  only  attained  by  a  leap  out  of  mind 
into  the  transcendental,  into  Wisdom.  Mind  will  declare  that 
our  whole  world  is  a  system  of  nuptials  and  that  only  by  remov- 
ing the  extremes  of  active  and  passive  Mysticism  do  they  be- 
come one  in  true  Mysticism  or  Inner  Life,  Tao,  which  is  the  sum 
total  of  both.  Both  of  these  two  forms  of  Mysticism  are  found 
in  the  Tao-Teh-King  and  you  shall  hear  more  about  them  by  and 

b^ 

Now,  I  will  appeal  for  a  life  on  the  inner  basis  of  our  exist- 
ence. Let  our  motive  be  love  such  as  sung  by  Mme.  Guyon, 
Love  is  my  teacher;  love  alone  can  tell  of  love.  Let  us  aban- 
don individual  self-assertion  and  live  according  to  Meister 
Eckardt,  who  said 

(Here  is  my  translation  from  his  Ms.  (Fol.  274,  297,  301.) 
"There  is  something  in  the  soul,  which  is  above  its  created 
nature.  It  is  in  itself  one  and  simple;  it  is  above  name  and 
knowledge;  it  is  pure  No-thing.  If  you  could  do  away  with 
yourself,  you  would  have  all  this  is  in  itself.  But  so  long  as 
you  look  upon  yourself  as  Something,  so  long  you  know  as  little 
what  this  is  as  my  mouth  knows  what  color  is,  or,  as  my  eyes 
know  what  taste  is.  About  this,  I  have  often  spoken.  Some- 
times I  have  called  it  a  Power,  sometimes  a  Light,  sometimes  a 


58  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Divine  Spark.  It  is  free  from  any  and  all  names  and  forms,  as 
Deity  is  free.  It  is  above  all  knowledge,  above  love  and  above 
grace.  In  this  power  (light,  spark),  blossoms  and  nourishes  the 
Divine.  This  Light  (power  or  spark),  rejects  all  creatures  and 
will  have  Deity  only,  Deity  simply,  and  no  revelation  of  Deity. 
This  light  (power  or  spark)  is  satisfied  only  by  the  Simple 
Ground,  the  Still  Waste,  where  nothing  moves  and  where  nobody 
lives.  It  will  have  only  the  Silent  Solitude  in  which  no  distinc- 
tions are  discernible.  This  Ground,  though  immovable  and  un- 
recognizable is  nevertheless  that  which  moves  all  and  by  which 
all  is  recognized." 

You  will  have  noticed  that  Eckardt  here  attempts  to  state 
"the  thing  itself,"  the  eternal  reality,  the  Noumenon  and  that 
he  all  through  opposes  it  to  something  else,  the  phenomenon. 
If  anything  can  or  needs  be  added  to  this  quotation  from  Eck- 
ardt, let  me  say  that  this  infallible  light  is  ' '  the  light  that  never 
was  on  sea  or  land,"  which  the  poet  speaks  of.  It  "lighteth 
every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world. "  It  is  the  highest  heri- 
tage of  our  nature,  the  ultimate  faculty.  It  requires  no  con- 
firmation and  admits  of  no  denial.  It  is  direct  and  immediate 
in  its  operation.  Our  psychologists  have  no  special  name  for  it 
as  yet.  They  know  it  in  part  as  intuition,  as  ecstasy,  as  the 
over-soul,  but  such  terms  are  defective  because  they  smack  too 
much  of  cognition  only.  The  mystics  attribute  to  this  faculty, 
just  described  by  Eckardt,  both  sensation,  feeling  and  will 
and  degrees  of  inner  perception  not  known  at  all  to  ordinary 
psychology.  Psychology  has  not  sounded  the  depths  of  the  soul 
as  mystics  have.  Psychologists  have  never  succeeded  in  dealing 
satisfactorily  with  Feeling  as  the  fountain  of  consciousness. 
The  fact  is  our  school  psychologies  deal  in  abstractions ;  but  the 
mystics  who  know  existence  as  a  system  of  living  forces,  care  not 
for  abstraction  or  terms ;  they  live  in  realities. 


I 


SIMPLICITY 

IV. 

SHALL  now  begin  to  talk  directly  out  of  the  book  Tao-Teh- 
King,  the  book  I  have  referred  to  several  times  in  my  three 
introductory  chapters  on  the  Inner  Life.  I  have  chosen  for 
a  text  a  line  from  Athanase: 

Our  human  souls 
Cling  to  the  grass  and  the  water  brooks. 

I  am  fully  aware  that  this  line  has  no  meaning  to  city  peo- 
ple, or  to  people  who  are  absorbed  in  city  problems.  Nor  has 
it  any  poetry  in  it  for  those  who  have  no  sense  of  the  Infinite  in 
Nature.  Nevertheless,  I  say  that  I  could  not  find  a  more  suitable 
text  or  motto  for  to-day's  discourse  on  "Simplicity,"  because 
my  discourse  will  have  no  interest  for  city  people,  for  people 
who  prefer  the  stage  to  a  midsummer-night's  revel  in  the  woods, 
and,  who  would  rather  breathe  factory  smoke  than  morning  dew 
and  the  cool  breezes  of  sunrise.  Grass  is,  as  I  trust  you  shall 
see,  a  type  of  a  simple  and  sincere  life,  a  life  for  use,  and,  water 
you  shall  hear  Laotzse  speak  of  as  a  most  marvelous  element. 
No  wonder  then  that  human  souls  cling  to  them. 

Simplicity,  human  souls,  grass  and  water  brooks  are  no  ab- 
stractions. They  are  real  things  'and  not  metaphysical  entities, 
nor  all  poetry.  And  we  need  to  concern  ourselves  with  the  prac- 
tical, with  life  and  its  methods.  I  shall  connect  grass  and  water 
brooks  with  Simplicity  and  the  three  shall  give  us  an  insight 
into  the  human  soul. 

To  be  sure 

"There's  not  a  place  on  earth's  vast  round, 

In  ocean  deep,  or  air, 

Where  skill  and  wisdom  are  not  found," 


60  THE  IN  NEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

or  as  I  said  in  the  last  chapter,  "There  is  no  place  where  God's 
feeling  and  imagination  may  not  be  seen ' ' ;  but  to-day  I  will  extol 
grass  and  water  and  their  union  with  human  souls. 

I  must  clear  away  some  difficulties  that  may  arise  from  mis- 
conceptions. While  I  shall  recommend  Simplicity,  as  the  Tao- 
Teh-King  defines  it,  I  shall  by  no  means  advocate  "simple" 
minds,  or  minds  of  "one  idea."  "Simple"  people  or  simple- 
tons are  as  a  matter  of  course  beyond  the  pale  of  our  discussion, 
and,  "one  idea"  people  are  to  say  the  least  a  nuisance  and 
usually  fanatics.  Simplicity  as  defined  in  the  Tao-Teh-King 
means  balance  in  the  midst  of  fullness,  and  is  the  very  founda- 
tion both  of  culture  and  Inner  Life.  This  brings  out  the  second 
point,  I  want  to  set  straight,  and  emphasize.  It  is  this:  Sim- 
plicity is  a  method  of  Nature's,  that  lies  at  the  root  of  all  her 
doings.  If  I  personified  Nature,  I  would  say  that  Simplicity 
was  her  one  attribute.  Again,  I  shall  not  advocate  "The  Simple 
Life "  as  it  was  preached  in  this  country  a  few  years  ago.  That 
movement  came  to  naught  because  it  did  not  rest  on  fundamen- 
tals :  It  was  not  Simplicity.  It  was  a  counterfeit  and  no  more. 
It  was  merely  a  "knocking  off."  To  knock  off  on  your  demands 
upon  life  does  not  produce  Simplicity.  Retrenchment  is  not 
Inner  Life.  ' '  The  Simple  Life ' '  and  Simplicity  are  two  different 
affairs.  "The  Simple  Life"  is  only  a  compromise  and  can  never 
produce  Simplicity,  and  Simplicity  does  not  necessarily  mean  a 
"Simple  Life."  Simplicity  may  be  found  in  the  midst  of  great 
abundance. 

Let  me  start  by  asserting,  that  as  far  as  Nature  is  con- 
cerned, we  all  start  evenly  and  with  the  same  favors,  and  say 
that  all  the  differences  among  men  are  created  by  themselves. 
In  the  words  of  Wordsworth,  I  will  present  Nature's  case. 
Listen  to  what  he  said  in  the  "Excursion"  (9th  book). 

"Alas!  what  differs  more  than  man  from  man! 

And  whence  that  difference? 

Whence  but  from  himself? 

For  see  the  universal  Race  endowed 

With  the  same  upright  form! — The  sun  is  fixed, 

And  the  infinite  magnificence  of  heaven 

Fixed,  within  reach  of  every  human  eye; 

The  sleepless  ocean  murmurs  for  all  ears; 

The  vernal  field  infuses  fresh  delight 

Into  all  hearts.    Throughout  the  world  of  sense, 


SIMPLICITY  61 

Even  as  an  object  is  sublime  or  fair, 

That  object  is  laid  open  to  the  view 

Without  reserve  or  veil ;  and,  as  a  power 

Is  salutary,  or  an  influence  sweet, 

Are  each  and  all  enabled  to  perceive 

That  power,  that  influence,  by  impartial  law. 

Gifts  nobler  are  vouchsafed  alike  to  all; 

Reason,  and,  with  that  reason,  smiles  and  tears ; 

Imagination,  freedom  in  the  will; 

Conscience  to  guide  and  check;  and  death  to  be 

Foretasted,  immortality  conceived 

By  all, — a  blissful  immortality, 

To  them  whose  holiness  on  earth  shall  make 

The  spirit,  capable  of  heaven,  assured. 

Strange,  then,  nor  less  than  monstrous,  might  be  deemed 

The  failure,  if  the  Almighty,  to  this  point 

Liberal  and  distinguishing,  should  hide 

The  excellence  of  moral  qualities 

From  common  understanding;  leaving  truth 

And  virtue  difficult,  abstruse  and  dark; 

Hard  to  be  won,  and  only  by  a  few; 

Strange,  should  He  deal  herein  with  nice  respects, 

And  frustrate  all  the  rest !  Believe  it  not : 

The  primal  duties  shine  aloft,  like  stars ; 

The  charities  that  soothe,  and  heal,  and  bless, 

Are  scattered  at  the  feet  of  Man,  like  flowers ; 

The  generous  inclination,  the  just  rule, 

Kind  wishes,  and  good  actions,  and  pure  thoughts, 

No  mystery  is  here!   Here  is  no  boon 

For  high,  yet  not  for  low;  for  proudly  graced, 

Yet  not  for  meek  of  heart.    The  smoke  ascends 

To  Heaven  as  lightly  from  the  cottage  hearth 

As  from  the  haughtiest  palace.    He,  whose  soul 

Ponders  this  true  equality,  may  walk 

The  fields  of  earth  with  gratitude  and  hope — 

Yet,  in  that  meditation,  will  he  find 

Motive  to  sadder  grief,  as  we  have  found; 

Lamenting  ancient  virtues  overthrown, 

And  for  the  injustice  grieving,  that  hath  made 

So  wide  a  difference  between  man  and  man. 


62  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

.     .     .    How  blest  that  pair 

Of  blooming  boys,  whom  we  beheld  even  now, 

Blest  in  their  several  and  their  common  lot  1 

A  few  short  hours  of  each  returning  day 

The  thriving  prisoners  of  their  village  school; 

And  thence  let  loose  to  seek  their  pleasant  homes, 

Or  range  the  grassy  lawn  in  vacancy: 

To  breathe  and  to  be  happy,  run  and  shout ; 

For  every  genial  power  of  earth  and  heaven, 

Through  all  the  seasons  of  the  changeful  year 

Obsequiously  doth  take  upon  herself 

To  labor  for  them;  bringing  each  in  turn 

The  tribute  of  enjoyment,  knowledge,  health, 

Beauty,  or  strength!   Such  privilege  is  theirs, 

Granted  alike  in  the  outset  of  their  course 

To  both — Whatever  fate  the  noon  of  life 

Reserves  for  either,  sure  it  is  that  both 

Have  been  permitted  to  enjoy  the  dawn — 

Both  have  been  fairly  dealt  with ;  looking  back, 

They  will  allow  that  justice  has  in  them 

Been  shown,  alike  to  body  and  to  mind." 

Is  there  not  over  all  this  a  grand  Simplicity?  Does  not 
Nature  offer  us  all  the  same  terms'?  And  this  quotation  is  a 
lesson  in  Simplicity.  Nature's  method  is  so  simple,  that  most 
people  never  notice  it.  And  this  want  of  notice  is  the  beginning 
of  all  the  future  differences  between  man  and  man.  In  this  pro- 
cedure of  Nature,  there  is  a  lesson  in  the  Inner  Life. 

I  will  now  let  Laotzse  explain  how  the  differences  grow  up 
after  the  beginning  has  been  made  by  ignoring  Nature's  sub- 
lime Simplicity.  He  and  Confusius  met  once  and  the  follow- 
ing is  part  of  a  conversation  that  took  place  between  them.  Con- 
fusius is  blamed  for  all  the  fuss  he  makes  about  laws,  rules  and 
regulations.  It  is  reported  by  one  of  Laotzse 's  disciples  that 
he  spoke  as  follows  to  Confusius  on  the  subject  of  Simplicity: 
"The  chaff  from  winnowing  will  blind  a  man.  Mosquitoes  will 
bite  a  man  and  keep  him  awake  all  night  and  so  it  is  with  all 
this  talk  of  yours  about  charity  and  duty  to  one's  neighbor,  it 
drivos  me  crazy.  My  lord,  strive  to  keep  the  world  in  its  orig- 
inal Simplicity — why  so  much  fuss?  The  wind  blows  as  it  listeth, 
so  let  virtue  establish  itself.  The  swan  is  white  without  a  daily 
bath  and  the  raven   is  black  without  dying  itself.     When  the 


SIMPLICITY  63 

pond  is  dry  and  the  fishes  gasping  for  breath  it  is  of  no  nse  to 
moisten  them  with  a  little  water  or  a  little  sprinkling.  Com- 
pared to  their  original  and  simple  condition  in  the  pond  and  the 
rivers  it  is  as  nothing." 

The  lesson  was  severe  and  throws  a  strong  light  upon  both 
teachers'  methods.  Laotzse  would  let  Nature  alone  and  let 
everybody  remain  in  original  Simplicity,  firmly  believing  that 
truth  would  prevail;  and,  in  as  much  as  he  spoke  at  the  time 
when  morals  were  decaying,  he  meant  to  tell  Confusius  that 
talking  about  duty  and  preaching  would  no  more  reform  the 
people  than  a  sprinkling  would  suffice  for  the  fishes  which  had 
been  taken  out  of  their  original  element.  The  only  way  to  re- 
form, he  meant  to  say,  was  to  restore  primitive  Simplicity.  Ig- 
noring Simplicity  produces  all  those  fatal  complications  which 
now  lie  like  a  curse  upon  us.  Confusius'  insistance  upon  laws, 
ordinances  and  rescripts  had  that  fatal  effect  upon  China,  and, 
Confusianism  no  doubt  is  the  cause  of  China's  misery. 

What  will  Simplicity  do  for  us?  A  great  deal,  surely.  Hear 
what  chapter  XXII  proclaims :  ' '  He  that  humbles  himself  shall 
be  preserved  entire.  He  that  bends  himself  shall  be  straight- 
ened. He  that  empties  himself  shall  be  filled.  He  that  has  worn 
himself  out  shall  be  renewed.  He  that  puts  himself  low  down 
shall  be  exalted.  For  these  reasons  the  Sage  clings  to  Simplic- 
ity and  is  a  pattern  for  the  whole  world."  And  as  if  to  repeat 
what  Simplicity  can  do,  the  chapter  continues  with  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  Sage :  * '  He  is  not  self  displaying,  therefore  he  shines. 
He  is  not  self-approving,  therefore  he  is  praised.  He  is  not 
vain,  therefore  he  has  merit.  He  is  not  self-exalting,  therefore 
he  is  honored.  And  in  as  much  as  he  is  not  striving,  he  is  not  in 
conflict  with  others,  and  no  man  is  his  enemy."  And  the  chapter 
ends  in  a  very  remarkable  way.  It  reads,  ' '  The  ancient  maxim : 
He  that  humbles  himself  shall  be  preserved  entire;  Oh,  it  is 
no  vain  utterance !  Verily  he  shall  be  returned  home  in  peace. ' ' 
This  closing  sentence  reads  almost  as  if  it  meant:  "Surely  he 
shall  be  saved!  He  shall  go  to  heaven!"  as  we  would  say  in 
Western  phraseology.  Personally,  it  seems  to  me,  that  I  have 
nothing  to  explain  or  add  to  these  sublime  teachings.  Anybody 
may  translate  them  into  his  own  religious  terms  and  will  find 
them  fully  answering  to  all  he  believes  and  wishes  for,  if  he 
wishes  for  the  real  root  of  virtue.  Alas !  how  many  do  ?  Some- 
body, speaking  in  Western  thought,  will  ask:  "What  about 
sin?"  Laotzse 's  remedy  against  sin  is  "to  feed  the  root  instead 


64  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

of  lopping  off  the  branches, ' '  and,  surely  nobody  can  suggest  a 
more  rational  remedy.  Killing  the  sinful  is  only  adding  sin  to 
sin.  By  restoring  the  errant  they  may  and  can  change  their 
ways.  By  ' '  feeding  the  root, ' '  or  restoring  Simplicity,  the  world 
may  be  saved  from  desires  and  false  notions  and — from  sin! 

Restoring  Simplicity  means  correcting  our  perceptions  of 
values — but  who  cares  to  correct  their  perceptions  of  values? 
Everywhere  they  answer  us  that  we  need  not  preach.  They 
have  freedom  and  that  gives  true  value  to  life  and  the  use  of 
life.  Is  this  really  true?  I  think  not!  The  world  has  a  great 
deal  of  liberty,  but  that  is  not  freedom.  Liberty  has  let  loose 
numerous  desires  and  men  are  being  swamped  by  them  and  live 
not  in  freedom,  but  in  a  terrible  social  quagmire,  in  bondage  to 
their  own  lower  nature.  Many  know  this,  but  dare  not  admit  it. 
Something  called  "social  conscience"  once  in  a  while  cries  out 
and  calls  for  a  halt,  but  it  never  advises  a  return  to  primitive 
Simplicity.  It  raises  a  gale  and  a  few  boats  are  overturned. 
Then  there  is  calm  again.  What  can  be  done?  Laotzse  tells  us. 
This  is  what  he  teaches  in  the  Tao-Teh-King :  "By  undivided 
attention  to  the  soul,  by  restraining  the  passions  and  letting 
gentleness  sway  it,  it  is  possible  to  become  an  infant  (to  continue 
as  a  child).  By  purifying  the  mind  of  phantasms  it  is  possible 
to  remain  without  a  spot."  This  then  is  what  can  be  done:  re- 
straining the  passions  and  purifying  the  mind  of  false  thoughts 
and  illusions. 

The  Tao-Teh-King  (XVI)  continues,  "Having  empted  your- 
self of  everything,  guard  your  tranquillity  and  remain  where  you 
are."  Exactly!  "Remain  where  you  are,"  that  is,  in  Simplicity, 
for  Simplicity  is  restored  when  self  is  emptied  of  "everything." 
Says  the  book:  "This  going  back  to  one's  origin  is  called  peace," 
"Returning  to  the  root  means  rest,"  and,  is  a  new  Beginning. 
"This  going  back  to  the  root  is  called  preservation,  and,  he  who 
is  in  preservation  is  enlightened,  and,  to  be  enlightened  means 
to  be  royal,  and  to  be  royal  means  to  be  celestial,  and,  to  be  celes- 
tial means  to  be  of  Tao." 

I  said  as  a  commentary  upon  Laotzse \s  words  "remain 
where  yon  are,"  that  "Simplicity  is  restored  when  self  is  emp- 
tied of  everything."  That  is  dark  talk  unless  I  elucidate  it,  and, 
happily,  I  think  I  can  do  it  by  calling  in  the  famous  Meister 
Eckardt  to  help  me.  Meister  Eckardt  lived  in  the  fourteenth 
century;  he  was  a  German  Mystic  and  besides  this  a  deep  psy- 
chologist.   He  was  at  one  time  laboring  to  assure  his  listeners 


NAMELESS   SIMPLICITY  65 

that  they  did  not  need  to  fear  God's  damnation  and  anger  on 
account  of  their  sins,  for  said  he,  when  the  will  in  you  is  changed, 
everything  is  changed — Yea!  never  was!  That  is  to  say,  in  as 
much  as  the  will  is  the  center  or  the  all  of  man,  then,  when  the 
will  is  no  more  what  it  was,  all  that  belonged  to  that  former 
state  is  no  more  either.  The  sinner  being  radically  turned  or 
changed  is  subjectively  pure  and  simple  again.  Objectivity  be- 
ing outside  would  take  its  own  course,  or,  in  other  words,  the 
objective  deed  and  the  sin  are  two  different  affairs.  The  sin 
being  subjective,  and,  not  objective,  vanishes  the  moment  the 
will  swings  round — "Yea!  it  never  was,"  as  Eckardt  said,  hav- 
ing no  root  anywhere  in  the  subject,  and,  the  subject  being  in 
the  everlasting  "Now,"  there  can  be  neither  Past  nor  Future 
for  it,  consequently,  the  sin  neither  was,  nor  is,  nor  will  be. 

Apply  this  to  what  I  said  about  the  self  being  emptied  of 
"everything,"  and,  that  that  act  would  restore  Simplicity,  and 
you  will  readily  see  the  truth  and  the  profound  signification  of 
the  word  "Simplicity."  By  "emptying  the  self"  is  to  be  under- 
stood what  Eckardt  meant  by  the  turning  round  of  the  will,  and, 
by  the  restoration  of  Simplicity  is  to  be  understood  the  restora- 
tion of  the  eternal  "Now."  All  this  is  psychology,  or  the  mys- 
tery of  the  working  of  the  soul  or  self.  To  put  it  in  theological 
language,  it  means  that  God's  anger  is  gone  and  forgiveness  is 
absolute  by  the  turn  of  will.  But  it  does  not  mean,  that  karma 
is  wiped  out  arbitrarily.  The  objective  side  of  my  deed  remains 
for  me  to  atone  for,  not  because  God  does  these  things  half- 
hearted or  imperfectly,  nay,  simply  because  in  my  growth.  I 
have  reached  no  further  than  the  deeds  of  the  karma.  I  must 
labor  further  with  my  deeds,  otherwise  I  shall  never  grow  ob- 
jectively, and,  that  I  must. 

What  further  can  be  done?  Laotzse  teaches  it  in  the  Tao- 
Teh-King  (XV).  It  is  asked:  "May  a  man  not  make  muddy 
water  clear  by  keeping  it  still?"  We  answer  yes,  because  we  be- 
lieve in  the  original  goodness  of  man.  By  keeping  still,  that  is 
to  say,  by  abstaining  from  evil,  the  mud  will  sink  and  the  water 
be  clear  again.  The  mud  is  not  evil  in  itself,  it  is  only  in  its 
wrong  place,  when  stirred  up  in  the  water.  No  action  is  either 
good  or  evil  in  itself,  but  it  may  be  so,  when  prompted  by  some- 
body's wish  or  when  out  of  order. 

Again,  the  teaching  is  (XXXVII) :  "Nameless  Simplicity" 
would  produce  absence  of  desire,  and,  "Rest  would  return,  and, 
thus  the  world  would  regenerate  itself. ' '  Can  there  be  any  doubt 


66  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

about  it!  It  is  the  loss  of  Simplicity  and  the  sinking  into  the 
complexity  of  things  that  has  wrecked  humanity  and  brought 
about  the  frightful  moral  ruin  we  see  about  us.  Therefore,  if 
Simplicity  could  be  restored  the  world  would  righten  itself,  as 
does  the  ship  when  the  shifted  cargo  is  thrown  overboard.  We 
need  to-day  single  mindedness,  candor,  and  disinterested  teach- 
ers to  give  the  example  of  a  life  in  Simplicity.  No  social  nor 
political  revolution  is  enough.  We  must  go  much  deeper.  When 
I  think  of  these  conditions  my  mind  runs  into  the  scenes  in  the 
Apocalypse  and  I  perceive  all  kinds  of  horrors  coming  to  pro- 
duce suitable  conditions. 

No  doubt  some  will  argue  that  no  Simplicity  or  return  of 
childlikeness  can  reform  the  world.  And  they  will  say  that 
much  more  radical  means  will  be  needed.  Those  who  argue  that 
way  are  wrong,  and,  they  are  ignorant  about  the  dynamic  forces 
that  work  in  Nature  and  human  life. 

Laotzse  knew  the  truth  and  spoke  with  insight  when  he 
said:  (XLIII)  "The  weakest  thing  in  the  world  will  override 
the  strongest." — (XXXVII)  "Tao  is  quiescent,  yet  leaves  noth- 
ing undone." — (XXXVI)  "The  soft  and  the  weak  overcome  the 
hard  and  the  strong." — (XXXV)  "Tao  is  as  nothing,  yet  in  its 
uses  it  is  inexhaustible." — (IV)  "Tao  is  without  limitation;  its 
depth  is  the  source  of  whatever  is." — (XL VIII)  "By  non-act- 
ion there  is  nothing  which  can  not  be  effected." — (LII)  "To  re- 
main gentle  is  to  be  unconquerable." — (LIV)  "Whoever  de- 
velops Tao  in  the  world  will  make  Virtue  triumph." — (LV) 
"What  is  not  of  Tao,  soon  comes  to  an  end." — (LXI)  "A  wo- 
man conquers  a  man  by  continual  quietness." — (LXVII)  "Gen- 
tleness is  always  victorious." — (LXXIV)  "The  celestial  Tao 
does  not  strive,  yet  overcomes  everything."  All  these  quota- 
tions fully  bear  out  my  contention  that  Laotzse 's  teaching  about 
the  weak  overcoming  and  mastering  the  strong,  is  a  teaching 
that  represents  Nature's  method. 

The  weakest  thing  Laotzse  knows  of  is  water.  Of  that  he 
says:  (LXXVIII)  "Nothing  on  earth  is  so  weak  and  yielding  as 
water ;  yet  for  breaking  down  the  strong  it  has  no  equal. "  (VIII) 
"It  can  get  into  the  most  inaccessible  places  and  that  without 
striving.  It  is  therefore  like  Tao."  Taoism  has  studied  water 
very  closely  and  Taoists  constantly  quote  texts  about  it.  I  will 
give  you  one,  rather  lengthy,  but  to  the  point.  From  "History 
of  the  Great  Light,"  a  famous  Taoist  text  by  Huai-Nan-Tsze, 
Prince  of  Kuang  Ling,  I  quote  as  follows  about  water : 


WATEB  67 

" There  is  nothing  in  the  world  so  weak  as  water;  yet  its 
power  is  such  that  it  has  no  bounds ;  its  depth  is  such  that  it  can- 
not be  fathomed.  In  length  it  is  without  limit ;  in  distance  it  has 
no  shores;  in  its  flows  and  ebbs,  its  increase  and  decrease,  it  is 
measureless.  When  it  rises  to  the  sky,  it  produces  rain  and 
dew;  when  it  falls  upon  the  earth,  it  gives  richness  and  moist- 
ure; there  is  no  creature  in  the  world  to  whom  it  does  not  im- 
part life,  and  nothing  that  it  does  not  bring  to  completion.  It 
holds  all  things  in  its  wide  embrace  with  perfect  impartiality; 
its  graciousness  extends  even  to  creeping  things  and  tiny  in- 
sects, without  any  expectation  of  reward.  Its  wealth  is  sufficient 
to  supply  the  wants  of  the  whole  world,  without  fear  of  exhaus- 
tion; its  virtue  is  bestowed  upon  the  people  at  large,  and  yet 
there  is  no  waste.  Its  flow  is  ever  onward — ceaseless  and  un- 
limited ;  its  subtlety  such  that  it  cannot  be  grasped  in  the  hand. 
Strike  it,  you  hurt  it  not;  stab  it,  you  cause  no  wound;  cut  it, 
you  cannot  sever  it  in  twain;  apply  fire  to  it,  it  will  not  burn. 
Whether  it  runs  deep  or  shallow,  seen  or  unseen,  taking  differ- 
ent directions,  flowing  this  way  or  that,  without  order  or  de- 
sign, it  can  never  be  utterly  dispersed;  its  cutting  power  is  such 
that  it  will  work  its  way  through  stone  and  metal ;  its  strength  so 
great,  that  the  whole  world  is  succored  by  it,  or  (literally  trans- 
lated) it  is  able  to  support  the  ships  of  the  whole  world  on  its 
broad  bosom.  It  floats  lazily  through  the  regions  of  formless- 
ness, foaming  and  fluttering  above  the  realms  of  obscurity,  that 
is  to  say,  in  the  forms  of  clouds ;  it  worms  its  way  backwards 
and  forwards  among  valleys  and  water  courses ;  it  seethes  and 
overflows  its  banks  in  vast  and  desert  wilds.  Whether  there  be 
a  superfluity  of  it  or  a  scarcity,  the  world  is  supplied  according 
to  its  requirements  for  receiving  and  for  imparting  moisture  to 
created  things,  without  respect  to  precedence  in  time.  Where- 
fore there  is  nothing  either  generous  or  mean  about  it,  for  it 
flows  and  rushes  with  echoing  reverberations  throughout  the 
vast  expanse  of  earth  and  heaven.  It  cannot  be  said  to  have  a 
left  side  or  a  right,  filling  everything  as  it  does;  it  winds  and 
meanders  backwards  and  forwards,  this  way  and  that,  being  co- 
existent in  point  of  time  with  the  entire  Universe — for  which 
cause  its  virtue  may  be  called  perfect.  And  how  comes  it  that 
water  is  able  thus  to  bring  its  virtue  to  perfection  in  the  world! 
It  is  because  of  its  gentleness,  weakness,  fertilizing  properties 
and  lubricity."  And  Laotzse  himself  said:  "That  which  is  the 
weakest  thing  in  all  the  world  is  able  to  overcome  the  strongest. 


68  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Issuing  from  nothingness  it  returns  to  nowhere,  and  from  this 
I  know  that  there  is  advantages  in  non-action."  This  was  Tao- 
ism, and,  you  cannot  gainsay  a  single  point. 

Now  remember,  I  was  reading  this  to  prove  how  powerful 
the  weakest  may  be.  Let  me  now  quote  a  Western  man,  Ruskin, 
on  water.  Indeed,  Ruskin 's  enthusiasm  (Modern  Painter's,  Sec- 
tion V,  "Truth  of  Water")  ought  to  be  ours:  "Of  all  inorganic 
substances,  acting  in  their  own  proper  nature,  and  without  as- 
sistance or  combination,  water  is  most  wonderful.  If  we  think 
of  it  as  the  source  of  all  the  changefulness  and  beauty  which  we 
have  seen  in  the  clouds;  then  as  the  instrument  by  which  the 
earth  we  have  contemplated,  was  modelled  into  symmetry,  and 
its  crags  chiselled  into  grace;  then  as  (in  the  form  of  snow)  it 
robes  the  mountains  it  has  made,  with  that  transcendant  light 
which  we  could  not  have  conceived  if  we  had  not  seen;  then  as 
it  exists  in  the  foam  of  the  torrent,  in  the  iris  which  spans  it,  in 
the  morning  mist  which  rises  from  it,  in  the  deep  crystalline 
pools  which  mirror  its  hanging  shore,  in  the  broad  lake  and 
glancing  river,  finally,  in  that  which  is  to  all  human  minds  the 
best  emblem  of  universal,  unconquerable  power,  the  wild,  various, 
fantastic,  tameless  unity  of  the  sea;  what  shall  we  compare  to 
this  mighty,  this  universal  element,  for  glory  and  for  beauty? 
or  how  shall  we  follow  its  eternal  cheerfulness  of  feeling?  It  is 
like  trying  to  paint  a  soul." 

I  quote  this,  too,  to  prove  how  powerful  the  weak  may  be. 
How  marvellous  is  not  Beauty  and  yet  it  is  intangible.  Beauty 
can  take  hold  of  a  human  heart,  when  neither  truth  nor  goodness 
can  move  it! 

You  have  now  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  weakness  of 
water  and  you  have  verified  the  truth  of  all  you  have  heard.  Let 
me  now  turn  the  leaf  over  and  show  some  of  the  marvels  this 
Weakness  performs,  and  combining  the  two  descriptions  as  sym- 
bolical of  Simplicity,  it  will  readily  be  seen,  that  Simplicity  is 
a  workinaster  of  miracles  and  that  we  never  can  fail  essentially 
in  life  if  we  identify  ourselves  with  it.  Water  covers  seven- 
tenths  of  the  surface  of  the  earth.  Not  much  left,  is  there?  In 
connection  with  atmospheric  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  it  surrounds 
the  earth  to  a  height  of  two  hundred  miles,  it  is  estimated. 
Surely  we  may  well  say  that  we  live  and  breathe  in  water,  yea, 
we  may  even  say  that  we  are  made  of  water,  because  three- 
fourths  of  the  weight  of  all  animals  and  plants  is  water.  Cer- 
tain it  is,  that  our  body  could  neither  be  built  nor  sustained  with- 


WATER  69 

out  water.  It  is  water  and  light  that  transform  the  inorganic  in 
the  plant  to  the  organic,  and  thus  becomes  the  source  of  our  en- 
ergy. This  is  directly  important  for  us  personally.  But  water 
exists  not  alone  for  us.  Simplicity  is  not  only  a  human  virtue. 
Water,  though  seldom  chemically  pure,  is  without  smell  and 
taste,  two  of  the  most  animal  senses.  Being  without  smell  and 
taste  points  to  its  freedom  from  anything  that  can  be  called 
rottenness ;  moreover,  water  is  cooling  and  a  solvent  for  all  that 
which  man  normally  takes  into  his  body  and  assimilates.  Apply 
this  to  Simplicity  with  which  Laotze  and  his  followers  compare 
it,  and,  surely,  you  can  see  Simplicity  as  a  "cooling"  force,  and 
as  a  "solvent"  of  many  difficulties. 

Though  water  is  soft  and  pleasant,  it  hides  enormous 
strength.  It  is  composed  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  two  of  the 
most  powerful  gases.  Bring  these  two  together  under  the  blow- 
pipe and  they  unite  in  a  violent  explosion.  Simplicity  contains 
in  itself  two  equally  strong  powers :  activity  and  passivity,  and, 
where  these  two  are  brought  together  under  the  blow-pipe  of 
circumstance,  they  produce  terrific  effects.  It  has  been  sug- 
gested that  if  the  earth  ever  burns  up,  as  old  traditions  say  it 
will,  then  the  energy  to  do  it  will  arise  from  the  Ocean,  because 
the  Ocean  is  simply  at  present  concealing  the  two  fire  elements 
which  can  and  will  burn  anything.  It  can  then  rationally  be  in- 
ferred from  this  that  Simplicity  is  the  same  power  and  the 
same  energy,  only  on  another  plane.  Do  you  not  think  it  worth 
while  to  pay  some  attention  to  this  subject  of  water  and  Simplic- 
ity, as  taught  in  so  unique  a  way  in  the  Tao-Teh-King?  Where 
is  the  strength  equal  to  Simplicity? 

I  will  wander  away  a  little  from  the  direct  subject  of  my 
chapter  and  give  you  a  few  problems  to  think  about  in  connection 
with  water  and  Simplicity.  Perhaps  you  will  have  more  respect 
for  the  Hindus'  bathing  in  the  waters  of  the  Ganges,  and  for  the 
Egyptians  of  old  who  held  the  Nile  to  be  sacred  and  even  thought 
the  rivers  were  gods.  Perhaps  you  will  also  reconsider  your 
notions  about  the  frequent  illustrations  so  common  among  ancient 
people  and  in  the  East  to-day.  Perhaps  you  will  think  of  your 
own  bath  in  a  different  way,  and,  perhaps  you  will  bathe  differ- 
ently now,  than  you  used  to.  In  old  Babylonia,  proselytes  were 
initiated  by  baptism  and  the  custom  was  borrowed  by  the  Le- 
vites  and  transmitted  to  the  church.  In  Ex.  XIX-20,  we  are  told 
that  Jehovah  would  not  come  down  and  give  the  law  before  the 
people  had  washed  their  clothes.    In  John's  Gospel  (III-5)  it  is 


70  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

reported  that  Jesus  declared  to  Nicodemus  that  nobody  could 
enter  the  kingdom  of  God  before  he  was  born  of  water  and 
spirit.  All  these  things  and  the  suggestions  they  have  called  forth, 
I  want  you  to  think  over  in  connection  with  Simplicity.  Your 
meditations  upon  them  can  only  stir  you  up  to  a  consideration 
of  all  the  marvels  that  we  pass  by  in  the  ordinary  day  life,  and, 
call  out  a  desire  to  change  and  do  better  in  the  future.  Anybody 
penetrating  into  these  mysteries  will  understand  much  of  the 
hidden  meaning  in  the  voices  of  the  sea,  I  spoke  of  in  my  second 
chapter,  and  can  neither  drink  a  glass  of  water  nor  wander  on 
the  seashore  without  marvelling  and  thinking  of  mysteries  and 
of  veils  that  do  not  hide  but  do  reveal.  So  much  about  water. 
Laotzse  does  not  speak  of  grass,  but  I  will  do  so  in  con- 
nection with  this  subject  of  Simplicity,  because  grass  represents 
in  the  organic  world  the  same  state  of  mind  and  heart  as  water 
does  in  the  inorganic.  The  peculiar  character  of  the  grass  is  its 
power  to  adapt  itself  to  the  service  of  men.  In  its  marvellous 
Simplicity  of  build  it  shows  humility  and  cheerfulness.  It  is 
satisfied  to  be  trodden  on  and  fed  upon.  It  seems  even  to  cheer 
up  under  all  kinds  of  violence  and  ill  usage.  Cut  it  down,  and, 
next  day,  it  multiplies  its  shoots  and  sends  a  rich  perfume  to 
you  from  its  withering  leaves.  It  keeps  itself  green  through  the 
winter  and  greets  you  in  fruitful  strength  next  spring.  Have 
you  ever  studied  that  dainty  little  spear  of  fluted  green,  we  call 
grass?  It  is  more  marvellous  than  any  church  spire,  and  it 
teaches  the  same  lesson  every  spring  when  it  rises  up  from  the 
soil  with  song  of  glorification  to  the  Sun  above,  and  a  silent 
prayer  of  thanks  for  preservation  to  mother  earth  below.  Its 
Simplicity  is  so  great,  so  profound,  that  but  few  notice  it  long 
enough  to  speak  about  it,  yet,  we  should  know  no  fair  earth  if 
the  grass  did  not  fulfil  its  mission.  The  earth  would  be  nothing 
but  desolation  and  we  should  not  be  among  the  living.  Nature's 
primary  object  with  grass  seems  to  be  the  protection  of  the  soil. 
If  the  soil  were  not  protected  by  an  organic  covering  it  would 
speedily  pass  away  and  only  the  bare  rocks  remain,  because 
floods  would  wash  it  away  and  the  sun  would  burn  it  up.  Sim- 
plicity fills  a  similar  office.  The  destructive  power  of  man's 
heterogeneous  culture  would  lay  him  waste  very  soon.  He  keeps 
himself  in  check  by  retirements  upon  the  conservative  forces  of 
existence.  The  grass  family  feeds  us.  All  our  cereals  come 
from  the  grasses.  The  grass  family  comprises  over  three  hun- 
dred genera  and  not  less  than  three  thousand  five  hundred  spe- 


GRASS  71 

cies.  In  grain  the  grasses  furnish  a  larger  amount  of  suste- 
nance to  animal  life  than  all  other  tribes  of  plants  together,  and, 
thus  they  are  truly  the  physical  basis  of  all  civilization.  Reflect 
upon  this  and  you  will  soon  see  that  Simplicity  serves  the  same 
purpose  in  the  higher  life ;  that  is,  that  the  Inner  Life  so  to  say, 
lives  upon  it.  The  grass  is  the  commonest  of  common  things, 
and,  therefore  the  ever-present  god.  The  universality  of  grass 
is  one  of  the  most  poetical  of  facts  in  the  economy  of  the  world, 
and,  its  name  is  so  universal  in  its  signification,  that  I  may  al- 
most identify  grass  with  Nature.  The  word  " grass' '  means  to 
grow,  to  sprout,  and,  the  word  " Nature"  means  the  same;  that 
is,  to  bear,  to  bring  forth.  You  have  heard  much  about  Simplic- 
ity.   Does  it  not  all  find  its  realization  in  grass? 

As  grass  is  earth's  garment,  so  is  Simplicity  the  most  beau- 
tiful garment  the  soul  can  find.  Both  grass  and  Simplicity  are 
found  watching  "  in  all  the  places  that  the  eye  of  heaven  visits. ' ' 
They  love  each  other  like  brooks  and  the  watercourses.  They 
follow  each  other  and  make  gardens  for  the  spiritual  man.  The 
grass  family  has  never  betrayed  its  trust;  neither  has  Simplic- 
ity. They  are  back  of  all  man 's  love  and  have  covered  over  the 
sands  of  sin  which  human  faithlessness  has  washed  down  upon 
so  many  fair  flowers  of  spirituality.  The  grasses  have  spread 
out  the  garment  and  Simplicity  has  taken  the  seat  thereon. 

There  is  still  one  more  family  likeness  I  wish  to  point  out. 
It  is  most  interesting  and  convincing.  Grasses  are  endogens 
and  their  growth  is  endogenous ;  that  is,  they  grow  from  inside 
and  not  by  concentric  rings  as  for  instance  the  oak.  They  in- 
crease by  the  intercalation  of  new  cellular  and  vascular  tissues 
among  those  already  formed.  They  are  "inside  growers"  and 
so  are  lillies  and  palms.  You  will  at  once  see  the  similarity  to 
Simplicity  for  that  certainly  is  of  inside  growth  and  not  of  the 
outside. 

You  can  now  see  why  I  quoted  as  my  text  the  poetic  sen- 
timent, I  started  with: 

".     .     .     Our  human  souls 
Cling  to  the  grass  and  water  brooks." 


THE   SAGE 
V. 

IN  the  third  chapter  I  spoke  of  the  mystics  and  toward  the 
end  I  retold  a  story  from  John  Tauler  about  a  poor  man, 
whose  clothes  were  not  worth  three  cents,  and,  who  sat 
like  a  beggar  at  the  church  door,  and,  how  John  Tauler  was 
sent  to  this  man  for  heavenly  wisdom.  I  retold  their  conversa- 
tion and  you  remember  how  this  beggar  triumphed  over  the 
learned  Dr.  Tauler  because  of  his  Union  with  God,  a  union  at- 
tained as  he  told  him  by  self-abandonment  and  absolute  love  of 
God.  We  agreed  then  that  the  beggar  was  a  Sage.  Now  I  offer 
you  an  Eastern  parallel  to  this  tale  from  the  Middle  Ages.  The 
difference  between  that  tale  and  the  one  which  you  shall  now 
hear  is  this,  that  Laotzse,  who  gives  the  information,  speaks  as 
a  teacher  and  instructs  us  in  the  language  of  Simplicity  about 
the  sage.  The  Western  and  the  Eastern  tales  are  simply  two 
presentations  of  the  same  truth  and  image.  "Who  and  what  is 
the  sage?  Before  I  give  you  passages  from  the  Tao-Teh-King 
on  that  subject,  it  may  be  well,  that  I  say  a  few  words  about 
the  great  man  in  order  to  distinguish  the  two.  The  Sage  and 
the  Great  Man  are  two  distinct  phenomena.  Nietzsche  was  not  a 
sage,  nor  were  Caesar,  Leonardo,  Michael  Angelo,  Spinoza,  Beet- 
hoven, Copernicus.  They  were  men  of  genius  and  greatness. 
Jesus,  Buddha,  Laotzse  were  Sages,  because  they  were  embodi- 
ments of  great  love  and  started  men  on  a  course  of  life,  more 
human  than  that  mankind  had  followed  before.  The  life  they 
started  mankind  in  was  mahatmic,  that  is  to  say,  it  was  a  sub- 
lime blending  and  union  of  the  opposite  factors  of  existence,  a 
union,  that  does  not  destroy  but  raises  the  opposites  above  the 
world  by  a  complete  transformation.  The  others  were  great 
brains  and  furnished  mankind  with  many  accessories  of  life. 
They  promoted  culture  but  not  holiness.  Jeremy  Bentham  and 
John  Stuart  Mill  held  Utilitarianism  to  be  the  characteristic  of 


THE  SAGE  73 

the  Great  Man  and  Hippolyte  Taine  considered  him  an  embodi- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  his  time  and  the  will  of  the  people.  The 
world  has  readily  accepted  these  opinions  and  judges  greatness 
by  these  standards.  In  contradistinction  to  these,  I  now  shall 
give  you  Laotze's  definition  of  the  sage,  and  the  difference  will 
appear  at  once,  and,  you  will  see  which  of  the  two  groups  you 
belong  to  or  want  to  follow. 

I  will  preface  my  definition  of  the  sage,  such  a  Laotze 
sees  him,  by  leading  your  thought  beforehand  to  observe  how 
different  Laotze's  view  is  from  the  view  of  a  sage  we  get  from 
India,  for  instance.  The  views  we  get  from  India  tend  to  de- 
press rather  than  to  raise  the  value  and  significance  of  life. 
They  contain  no  incentives  to  work  or  to  put  forth  any  efforts 
against  irrationality  and  wickedness.  The  Hindu  flees  the  world. 
Not  so  Laotze's  sage.  The  main  key  to  him  is  activity.  He  re- 
mains in  the  world  as  an  example ;  he  encourages  us  to  struggle 
for  freedom  and  never  condemns  us,  though  he  laments  that 
the  world  is  so  bad  and  so  irrational.  You  see  the  difference? 
It  is  my  opinion  that  we  in  this  country  can  learn  far  more  from 
Laotze  on  how  to  live,  than  we  can  learn  from  India.  If  one 
wants  to  become  a  yogi,  and  wishes  to  throw  away  all  human 
value  and  become  a  mere  wheel  in  the  mechanism  of  nature,  let 
him  go  to  India.  If  one  wants  to  be  a  sage  and  yet  live  in  the 
world  as  a  useful  member  of  society,  let  him  study  and  follow 
Laotze.  The  last  mentioned  object  in  life,  I  believe,  is  Amer- 
ican. 

Who  and  what  is  the  sage,  the  holy  man?  "The  sage  is 
occupied  only  with  that  which  is  without  self-assertion  and  he 
conveys  his  instructions  by  silence.  He  does  not  refuse  the 
world's  ten  thousand  things,  but  does  not  possess  them.  He 
works,  but  claims  not  the  fruit  of  his  action.  He  has  merit,  but 
does  not  dwell  on  it  and  therefore  no  one  robs  him  of  it."  (II.) 
In  short,  he  is  in  the  world,  but  not  of  it.  If  you  remember  the 
description  of  Simplicity,  you  will  see  that  the  sage  is  Sim- 
plicity realized.  The  sage  and  Simplicity  are  two  sides  of  the 
same  truth.  They  may  be  compared  to  the  approaches  to  the 
bridge  and  the  two  voices  spoken  of  in  fonner  chapters.  The 
sage  is  neither  self-sufficient  nor  does  he  claim  the  honor  for 
that  which  Tao  accomplishes  through  him,  nor  even  the  fruits 
thereof.  How  thoroughly  the  character  of  water  and  grass  as 
shown  in  the  last  chapter!  "The  sage  knows  no  distinctions; 
he  has  no  ' loves,'  but  looks  upon  all  men  and  things  as  made  for 


74  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

holy  uses"  (V.),  that  is  to  say,  separateness  does  not  exist  for 
him.  Men  and  women  and  things  are  seen  sub  specie  eternitatis; 
only  their  eternal  value  counts  with  him.  From  a  worldly  point 
of  view  this  looks  like  indifference.  It  is  no  indifference.  It 
is  wisdom;  for  consider:  there  are  men  and  women  enough  all 
around  us.  They  are  common  enough;  they  are  everywhere 
and  as  plentiful  as  workers  in  a  beehive  or  anthill.  The  mere' 
fact  of  shape  and  organic  structure  is  nothing  remarkable. 
Nature  uses  the  same  sex-model  throughout  all  her  kingdoms; 
everywhere  she  moves  by  means  of  dual  forms.  But  where  is 
the  one  among  either  of  these  sexes  who  is  more,  something 
more  than  merely  a  human  form?  The  one  who  is  a  species 
rather  than  a  specimen?  The  one  to  whom  we  can  apply  the 
eternal  measure?  The  woman  who  will  and  can  be  recognized 
because  she  is  Woman  and  not  a  special  and  separate  individ- 
ual? The  man,  who  is  not  a  semblance,  but  a  reality?  Where 
are  the  ones  who  cause  us  to  exclaim,  "Ah,  I  have  seen  a  soul! 
I  have  felt  the  Presence!"  Such  exclamations  are  proper  when 
we  see  a  man  or  a  woman  who  uses  the  body  with  absolute  and 
joyous  freedom;  and  whose  mind  rests  in  majestic  peace  and 
who  is  master  of  both.  Such  an  one  is  mahatmic,  or  a  sage,  a 
great  spirit.  We  have  mahatmic  spirits  of  various  degrees 
among  us.  They  are  the  ones,  whom  the  sage  considers;  the 
others  are  children,  and  some  are  merely  possibilities.  In  the 
world  it  is  heresy  to  say  anything  against  the  world  and  its 
things.  The  world  wants  all  of  us  to  be  as  worldly  as  it  is 
itself,  and  to  look  only  for  self-interest  and  provide  "bread 
and  play"  for  the  mob.  In  common  justice  to  the  sage  we 
must,  however,  say  that  he  has  as  much  right  to  live  in  his  own 
way  as  the  world  has  to  live  its  way.  The  world  does  not 
consider  him  a  valuable  asset,  why  should  it  complain  because 
he  sits  apart?    Let  him  alone,  he  does  not  hurt  the  world. 

The  Tao-Teh-King  thinks  well  of  the  sage  and  declares 
(VII)  also  that  "the  wise  man  is  indifferent  to  himself  and  thus 
becomes  the  greatest  among  men.  Because  he  does  not  seek 
his  own  he  accomplishes  his  own."  As  little  as  the  wise  man 
seeks  his  own,  so  little  does  he  proclaim  himself  as  the  "greatest 
among  men."  By  acting  that  way  he  gives  the  world  no  cause 
for  irritation  or  hatred.  Why  he  succeeds  by  "indifference,"  I 
have  elsewhere  explained.  It  is  because  this  sort  of  indifference 
is  Simplicity.  In  confirmation  of  my  explanations,  I  will  here 
again  quote  the  Tao-Teh-King  on  the  subject.  The  reasons  for  the 


THE  SAGE  75 

sage's  success  and  his  superiority  is  this,  that  (XXII)  he  adapts 
himself  to  Tao,  therefore  he  is  "preserved  to  the  end"  and 
becomes  a  model  even  for  the  unwilling.  He  "bends  himself," 
therefore  he  becomes  straight,  and  he  is  "filled  because  he 
empties  himself."  Though  unknown  and  unrecognized  he  toils 
incessantly  for  the  good.  Though  that  toil  wears  him  away,  he 
is  constantly  renewed.  On  this  point  of  toiling  and  wearing 
away,  yet  not  dying,  the  world  least  of  all  can  understand  him. 
The  reason  why  he  does  not  die  lies,  of  course,  in  the  fact  that 
he  draws  life  from  the  deepest  wells  of  existence,  and  those 
wells  are  only  open  in  the  sage.  The  deep  wells  never  dry  up ; 
they  are  not  filled  by  surface  water;  they  flow  with  perennial 
streams  which  come  from  the  innermost  earth.  It  was  that 
kind  of  wells  Isaac  was  told  to  dig  up  when  sent  to  dig  up  "the 
old  wells."  To  the  sage,  work  is  not  toil;  it  is  recreation, 
growth  and  laudation  of  Tao.  Work  is  the  key  to  all  spiritual- 
ity. Because  the  world  does  not  know  the  difference  between 
toil  and  work  it  condemns  the  sage  as  an  idler  and  a  useless 
member  of  society.  It  is  further  said  (XXVI)  that  the  sage 
never  loses  his  gravity  and  daily  walks  with  dignity.  He  never 
forgets  himself  even  if  glorious  palaces  should  belong  to  him. 
This  is  readily  understood  when  it  is  realized  that  he  is  a 
quietist.  His  Quietism  is  "concealed  enlightenment"  to  the 
world;  nevertheless  in  it  he  becomes  the  good  savior,  a  savior 
to  whom  nobody  and  nothing  is  "outcast."  In  the  mysterious 
balance  of  things,  he  outweighs  all  misery  and  degradation  by 
being  "the  enlightened  one"  and  one  who  is  free.  In  his  in- 
tensity, the  sage  balances  the  world's  immensity.  Being  one 
he  outnumbers  the  many.  Because  he  rests  in  the  endless,  he 
commands  the  finite.  He  was  always  in  the  world,  but  the 
world  did  not  know  it.  In  connection  with  the  gravity  of  the 
sage  stands  the  fact  that  he  (XXIX)  "abandons  pleasure,  ex- 
travagance and  indulgence. ' '  That  he  should  be  far  from  pomp 
and  levity  is  a  matter  of  course.  But  the  sage  is  no  pietist  or 
hypocrite.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  a  devotee  of  beauty,  beauty 
both  in  the  human  and  in  nature.  Being  rooted  in  Simplicity 
he  can  appreciate  beauty  as  nobody  else.  Simplicity  being  the 
kernel  of  all  beauty,  he  and  beauty  are  one.  Beauty  to  him,  is, 
of  course,  not  show  nor  stimulated  desire,  it  is  the  supreme  form, 
that  otherness  which  only  from  time  to  time  strikes  common 
people  and  professionals ;  that  power,  which  lit  upon  Chaos  and 
Heaven  and  Earth  came  forth,  and,  became  cosmic  order. 


76  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Again  it  is  said  about  the  Wise  Man  (XL VII)  that  "he 
does  not  travel,  yet  he  has  knowledge;  that  he  does  not  see 
things,  yet  he  defines  them."  How  would  an  emperor  or  even 
a  police  inspector  get  along  if  he  did  not  get  daily  and  hourly 
reports  from  everywhere?  How  would  any  manager  of  affairs 
who  did  not  see  for  himself  and  learn  by  reports,  how  would 
he  "define"  things  or  affairs.  He  could  not  do  it.  He  depends 
upon  a  complicated  state  machinery  and  reports.  Not  so  the 
sage.  It  appears  that  there  is  a  universal  exchange  bureau 
in  the  spirit  to  which  he  has  immediate  access,  access  at  any 
time  and  anywhere.  The  sage  lives  in  the  spirit,  hence  things 
appear  to  him  not  fragmentary,  but  essentially  and  as  they 
really  are,  both  in  their  primary  forms  and  in  any  and  all  of 
their  derived  forms.  His  world  is  the  sum  total  of  all  the  factors 
of  the  universe;  factors  which  are  both  positive  and  negative; 
factors  of  both  birth  and  death;  factors  which  are  the  forms  of 
existence.  His  world  has  been  described  in  all  that  which 
Laotzse  says  about  Tao;  in  all  that  which  Plato  dreamed  about 
Ideas,  and  Jacob  Bohme  revealed  about  the  Nature-powers 
called  "mothers." 

The  sage  does  not  strive.  He  knows  that  Tao  is  One  and 
he  follows  Teh,  or  virtue,  which  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
following  Tao,  for  Teh  is  Tao  realized.  As  little  as  anything 
can  be  taken  from  Tao  or  added  to  Tao,  so  little  can  anything  be 
taken  from  Teh  or  added  to  Teh.  Teh,  virtue,  is  a  constant. 
Why  then  should  the  sage  either  strive  or  care  for  names  or 
distinctions;  they  can  only  be  human  inventions,  and  cannot 
affect  either  Tao  or  Teh.  The  sage  wastes  no  energy  in  striving, 
he  applies  himself  to  Tao,  and,  Tao  gives  him  the  true  per- 
ception or  understanding  of  the  nature  of  things  and  their  value. 
He  also  applies  himself  to  Teh,  or  Virtue,  which  instructs  him 
how  to  use  things  and  by  right  use  of  things  he  attains  power. 
Said  a  Taoist:  "The  man  of  virtue,  Teh,  remains  indifferent  to 
his  environment.  His  integrity  is  thereby  undisturbed  and  his 
knowledge  transcends  the  senses.  As  a  result  of  that  his  heart 
expands  to  enfold  those  who  take  refuge  in  it.  Such  is  the  man 
of  complete  virtue." 

It  is  said  of  one  who  does  not  strive:  "He  will  bury  gold  in 
the  hills  and  cast  his  pearls  in  the  sea  and  not  strive  for  wealth 
or  for  fame.  He  will  not  rejoice  in  old  age  or  grieve  over  early 
death,  nor  will  he  pride  himself  of  success  or  feel  sorrows  in 
failure.     He  will  not  feel  rich  because  he  ascends  the  throne, 


THE  SAGE  77 

nor  glory  because  he  may  rule  the  world.  His  real  glory  is  to 
know  the  One,  Tao,  and  that  all  things  are  but  phases  of  the 
One."  It  is  interesting  to  compare  this  sublime  indifference  to 
the  stoicism  of  Marcus  Aurelius.  The  Roman  looks  upon  such 
things  with  contempt.  The  Taoist  treats  them  as  unimportant. 
Both  stand  aloof  and  separate  from  them.  The  sage  has  "the 
gift  that  abides,"  the  anointed  eye,  which  sees  the  light  that 
never  fails.  God  still  speaks  to  man.  The  mountains  especially 
call  to  the  sage  and  they  show  him  the  hidden  life.  In  ever- 
ascending  scale  he  rises  upon  the  spiritual  sense  of  all  scrip- 
tures, and  praying  in  the  spirit  he  goes  out  into  the  wilderness. 
Everywhere  he  is  in  the  midst  of  "the  salvation  of  God";  no- 
where is  the  divine  face  hidden;  "the  little  things,"  as  well 
as  the  first  born,  the  "sons  of  God,"  guide  him.  Thus  and 
therefore,  it  will  be  seen,  that  though  he  does  not  travel  as  the 
curious  and  the  idle  do,  nor  examine  as  the  learned  do,  he  never- 
theless knows  everything. 

It  may  now  sound  surprising  and  contradictory  to  hear  that 
the  Tao-Teh-King  also  says  (XLIX)  that  the  sage's  heart  is 
not  set  upon  anything,  that  he  has  no  fixed  opinions,  or  opinions 
which  he  calls  his  own;  but  a  little  consideration  will  show  that 
that  is  necessarily  so.  How  could  he  who  lives  in  the  universal, 
stay  in  the  particular?  He  would  not  even  claim  the  universal 
as  his  own.  Only  small  souls  beat  the  drums  and  the  smaller 
they  are,  the  larger  the  drum.  Professionals  especially  are 
zealous  about  their  so-called  discoveries  and  panaceas.  Con- 
trary to  all  such,  the  wise  man,  says  the  book  (XLIX),  "ac- 
commodates himself  to  the  minds  of  others."  That  is  to  say, 
he  does  not  force  his  hearers  or  pupils  to  exalt  him  or  to  speak 
in  the  forms  of  his  thought  or  copy  him.  He  accommodates 
himself  to  them.  If  his  hearer  is  an  artist,  he  speaks  in  art 
phraseology;  if  his  pupil  is  a  philosopher,  he  falls  in  with  him 
and  uses  abstract  terms ;  to  a  woman  he  speaks  in  life  terms  and 
with  love,  and,  to  the  child  he  uses  pictorial  illustrations.  To 
all  he  is  sympathetic,  and,  they  confide  in  him.  The  sage  ' '  uni- 
versalizes his  heart"  (XLIX)  and  thus  becomes  a  savior. 

And  how  does  he  thus  become  a  savior?  He  does  it  by  such 
behavior  as  I  already  have  described;  a  behavior,  the  key  of 
which  is  Simplicity.  Salvation  is  not  brought  to  anybody  by 
forcing  them  into  another's  mode  of  thinking  or  living.  Sal- 
vation comes  to  whosoever  needs  it,  by  letting  him  reform  him- 
self, by  letting  him  overcome  himself,  and  thereby  allowing  the 


78  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Higher  Self  to  reassert  itself  in  him.  People  would  be  righteous 
if  let  alone.  It  is  pressure  from  outside  and  the  preaching  of 
false  notions  that  cause  people  to  do  wrong.  Remove  desires  by 
putting  no  false  value  upon  things,  and  nobody  will  desire  them. 
It  is  the  law  that  makes  sin,  said  St.  Paul.  Leaving  out  for  the 
present  any  discussion  about  the  metaphysics  of  "the  law  of 
contrariety, ' '  so  called,  this  can  be  said,  that  by  making  distinc- 
tions we  create  crime  and  antagonize  Tao  and  Teh.  Rightly 
says  Laotzse,  that  by  setting  value  on  rare  things  of  sense  we 
disturb  the  peace  of  the  mind.  (III.)  Who  can  deny  it?  Pre- 
dilections are  the  cause  of  sin  and  crime  and  our  alienation  from 
Tao  and  Teh.  If  nobody  made  distinctions,  no  breaking  of  rules 
would  take  place.  The  human  heart  is  not  radically  wrong. 
The  core  is  right  and  sound.  Our  book  says  (LXII)  that  "Tao 
is  the  guardian  of  all  things,"  and  does  not  even  forsake  those 
who  are  not  good."  Yea,  the  book  even  says  (LI)  that  "Teh 
(or  virtue)  nourishes  all  things,  increases  them,  protects  them 
and  watches  over  them."  In  the  face  of  such  declarations,  who 
dares  throw  stones?  who  dares  malign  the  people?  Let  the 
hypocrites  go  and  hide!  Do  not  stand  in  the  way  of  a  soul! 
Every  flower  will  seek  the  sun  if  let  alone;  none  turns  away. 
The  sage  is  the  good  savior !  and  the  sage  never  advertises  him- 
self, and  the  sage  is  always  poor;  he  carries  his  jewels  in  his 
bosom  (LXX).  He  never  speaks  up  in  the  congregation.  Those 
who  do  not  know,  do  the  talking.  All  this  about  the  sage,  I 
have  read  in  the  Tao-Teh-King.  Go  and  read  for  yourself.  You 
may  find  much  more. 

You  have  thus  far,  in  this  chapter  and  in  the  last,  heard 
much  in  praise  of  Simplicity  and  about  its  natural  types,  water 
and  grass.  You  have  also  heard  who  and  what  the  sage  is,  and 
how  he  uses  Simplicity.  All  of  this  has  conveyed  ideas  of  Real- 
ity to  you.  It  must  have  appeared  that  Simplicity  is  something 
fundamental ;  something  structural,  something  Kosmic. 

Let  me  now  finally  translate  the  word  Simplicity  into  moral 
concepts  and  thus  come  a  little  nearer  to  our  human  existence. 
Simplicity  then  is  first  of  all  sincerity.  Sincerity  in  the  Latin 
is  slue  corn,  ''without  a  flaw."  Certainly  Simplicity  is  com- 
pleteness and  uprightness.  Tt  is  a  vase  that  rings  true  when 
struck.  Simplicity  is  whole-hearted  and  simple-hearted,  or,  in 
other  words,  it  is  synonomous  with  singleness.  Plato  applied 
the  word  Simplicity,  ovir\as  (a pious)  to  God,  "who  is,"  he  said, 
"perfectly  simple  and  true  both  in  word  and  deed."   Plato  uses 


THE  SAGE  79 

the  word  Simplicity  again  in  the  Republic  about  the  just  man. 
He  means,  and  we  ought  to  mean  by  the  word  Simplicity,  that 
a  just  man  is  perfectly  at  one  with  himself  in  motive,  aim  and 
end  in  his  relations  to  the  Divine  and  to  his  fellowmen. 

In  an  old  work,  ' '  The  Testament  of  the  Twelve  Patriachs, ' ' 
a  work  of  Hebrew  origin  and  character,  Issachar,  the  fifth  son 
of  Jacob  and  Leah,  is  represented  as  Simplicity,  and,  he  repre- 
sents himself  to  his  children  as  one  who  has  walked  all  his  life 
in  Simplicity.  He  lays  emphasis  upon  his  being  a  husbandman 
and  recommends  his  children  to  find  contentment  in  husbandry 
and  to  shun  mercantile  pursuits  because  these  lead  to  transgres- 
sions. That  of  being  a  husbandman  is  a  point  I  would  emphasize 
as  a  necessity  for  the  full  realization  of  Simplicity.  City  life, 
with  its  complexity,  is  ruinous.  The  old  adage  is  true:  "God 
made  the  country  and  the  devil  made  the  city."  By  being  a 
husbandman,  I  do  not  exactly  mean  being  a  farmer,  though 
Issachar  was  it.  I  mean  that  country  life,  life  in  the  open,  and 
not  city  life  is  the  true  life.  If  we  cannot  flee  the  city,  we  can 
nevertheless  in  many  ways  place  ourselves  in  direct  relation  to 
the  country.  Let  us  do  that!  An  outlook  to  Nature  will  make 
a  path  to  Simplicity !  And  now  in  conclusion :  What  can  be  done 
for  the  restoration  of  Simplicity?  We  talk  and  boast  of  culture 
and  civilization,  and  what  is  it?  Nothing  but  sham!  I  say 
"nothing,"  and  do  so  perfectly  conscious  of  what  I  am  saying, 
and  do  not  think  I  am  exaggerating.  The  proof  is  to  be  found 
in  all  the  misery  around  us,  a  misery  that  never  ends. 

I  am  not  blind  to  the  marvellous  industrial  and  commercial 
progress  of  the  world.  I  profit  by  it  in  many  ways,  and  so  do 
you,  but  eternally,  what  is  it?  It  is  not  as  stable  as  clouds,  and, 
those  who  promote  the  so-called  culture,  make  gains  that  last 
no  longer  than  mosquitoes  in  the  fall.  The  only  lasting  thing  they 
gain  is  terrible  strength  of  will.  That  lasts,  and,  will  send  them 
back  like  blind  moles  to  burrow  in  the  earth.  By  and  by  the 
Powerful  and  the  sages  will  change  places.  To  die  poor  now 
but  wise  is  great  gain. 

Cannot  something  effectually  be  done  to  introduce  Simplic- 
ity? Can  we  not  call  to  arms  all  those  who  have  realized  the 
Overman  in  themselves,  as  they  say?  Why  not  send  them  to 
vitalize  that  Overman?  Let  them  introduce  Simplicity!  Who 
will  be  first  to  preach  and  practice  it? 

I  now  come  to  that  special  purpose  I  had  in  mind,  and  to 
which  I  referred  before.    My  purpose  is  to  connect  Simplicity, 


80  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

the  sage  and  the  Tao-Teh-King,  and  that  not  merely  as  logically- 
related,  but  standing  in  a  life  relation  to  each  other  as  Mother, 
Father  and  Child.  Before  I  proceed  to  do  so,  let  me  explain 
my  method  in  these  papers.  In  these  chapters  I  am  endeavoring 
to  translate  all  scholastic  and  intellectual  terms  and  expressions 
into  living  conceptions,  into  the  forms  that  answer  to  our  per- 
sonal existence.  In  all  of  us  there  lie  images,  words,  sounds, 
symbols,  and  so  forth,  of  various  kinds ;  they  are  the  epitomes 
of  ourselves,  and  by  means  of  these  images  we,  in  the  most 
direct  manner,  get  hold  of  ourselves  and  are  taught.  I  am  trying 
to  get  hold  of  such  images  in  you,  in  order  to  explain  my  subject. 
It  is  easy  enough  to  spiritualize  any  idea  or  conception,  and  to 
raise  it  very  high,  but  the  result  is  that  it  becomes  so  utterly 
attenuated  that  it  loses  all  practical  value.  As  soon  as  an  idea 
is  so  thoroughly  denaturalized  that  it  has  become  a  mere  noth- 
ing, it  has  also  ceased  to  awaken  anybody  who  lives  in  flesh  and 
blood.  I  say,  it  is  easy  enough  to  wander  off  into  highflown 
language  and  poetic  imagery,  but  it  is  very  difficult  to  move 
the  other  way;  and  yet  that  is  most  needed,  because  people 
need  a  foothold,  and  they  get  it  not  by  a  talk  above  their  heads, 
but  by  bringing  the  truth  and  the  spirit  to  them  in  tangible 
forms,  in  forms  that  correspond  to  their  own  lives  and  their 
own  experiences.  Inded,  it  is  an  old  truth  that  "invisible  things 
are  discerned  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  through  the 
things  which  are  made."  And  why  is  that  the  truth?  "Why  is 
it  self-evident?  It  is  so,  as  John  of  the  Cross  says,  because 
"spiritual  things  include  them."  By  right  use  of  visible  and 
tangible  things  we  may  lay  hold  upon  the  invisible  and  intan- 
gible, because  they  are  included  in  it  as  the  higher  in  the  lower. 
As  I  said,  people  need  a  foothold  from  whence  they  themselves 
can  begin  to  work  up  on  the  Path. 

You  remember  I  have  laid  much  emphasis  upon  originality 
and  have  condemned  all  kinds  of  copying  and  ascribed  much  of 
humanity's  misery  to  lack  of  originality  and  to  copying.  If  a 
lecturer  or  a  preacher  can  come  down,  not  to  platitudes  or  child- 
ish talk,  but  to  the  living  images  that  lie  in  every  human  mind, 
he  can  reach  that  mind  and  do  it  good.  By  infusing  those  images 
with  power,  by  purifying  them,  by  electrifying  them,  by  ex- 
plaining them  to  the  mind  that  possesses  them,  that  mind  is 
infused  with  vigor  and  awakened  to  itself.  Being  awakened,  it 
will  live  for  itself  and  be  on  the  Path,  and,  that  it  should  be 
awakened  and  caused  to  live  for  itself  is  the  object  of  all  preach- 


IMAGES  81 

ing.  A  preaching  that  does  not  aim  at  that  nor  accomplish  it  is 
no  more  than  babbling  or  beating  the  drum. 

If  you  will  go  back  over  the  preceding  chapters  and  re- 
examine them,  you  will  see  that  I  am  struggling  to  do  this  very 
thing  I  am  talking  about.  Instead  of  screwing  the  subjects  up 
higher,  I  have  attempted  to  take  the  scholastic  machinery  to 
pieces  and  I  have  substituted  living  powers  for  all  mechanical 
and  inorganic  details.  I  have  made  all  abstractions  into  living 
personalities;  I  have  painted  dramatic  scenes  and  appealed  to 
your  feelings  and  love-nature  rather  than  attempted  to  instruct. 
I  have  used  veils  that  reveal,  and,  thus  I  have  gained  the  same 
effects  as  Greek  sculptors  gained,  when  they  wetted  the  drapery 
they  put  upon  their  models:  they  revealed,  yet  they  never 
offended  propriety.  I  have,  if  I  may  say  so,  rather  " lowered" 
idealistic  expressions;  I  have  done  that  by  clothing  them  in 
flesh  and  blood,  and,  I  know  I  have  attained  some  satisfactory 
results.  An  experiment  with  that  which  I  have  called  Western 
and  modern  phraseology  will  prove  more  of  a  success  than 
might  have  been  expected. 

It  is  most  singular,  that  this  method  which  I  have  called 
Western  and  modern  is  the  very  method  of  the  ancients.  In  the 
East,  to-day  as  of  old,  all  preaching  and  teaching  is  by  personal 
intercourse,  and,  experience  in  European  universities  has  shown 
that  it  is  the  only  real  way  by  which  to  impart  spiritual  seed. 
Abstract  and  mechanical  subjects  may  well  be  taught  from  a 
platform,  but  spiritual  life  never.  The  reason  for  this  is  plain. 
Consciousness  is  more  than  a  physical  fact.  In  the  Universal, 
the  individual  person  is  a  species,  but  in  the  physical  world  an 
individual  is  almost  meaningless.  One  crystal  is  like  another; 
but  one  soul  is  not  like  another.  All  those  highflown,  abstract 
and  difficult  terms  and  phrases  and  conceptions  in  which  so 
many  teachers,  both  mystic  and  others,  have  buried  that  life 
which  these  terms  and  phrases  originally  stood  for,  all  these 
terms  and  phrases  are  not  of  the  spirit  of  the  Orient.  The  West 
and  part  of  Asia  under  western  influence  made  them,  partly  in 
Greece,  and  partly  elsewhere,  during  the  development  in  the 
East  of  what  is  called  Western  progress,  Western  culture  and 
civilization.  In  its  attempt  to  gain  a  reasonable  understanding 
of  living  forces  and  acts,  the  West  and  part  of  Asia  invented  all 
these  terms  and  phrases  and  they  unfortunately  forgot  the 
original  aim  and  end,  and  forgot  that  these  terms  and  phrases 
were  only  to  be  symbols  and  no  more,  and  they  forgot  life  alto- 


82  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

gether.  They  hugged  and  kissed  petrifactions  and  do  so  now. 
By  forcing  posterity  to  learn  by  the  brain  and  not  by  the  heart, 
we  have  now  come  to  our  present  desperate  conditions.  We 
have  the  shell,  but  the  nut  is  not  in  it. 

I  am  trying  to  retranslate  terms  and  phrases  into  life.  Like 
so  many  others,  I  have  lived  in  the  blind  man's  paradise  and 
been  satisfied  with  painted  canvases  and  with  words.  But 
time  came  when  I  could  no  longer  square  the  murmur  of  the 
forest  with  the  pages  of  a  book;  nor  comprehend  why  I 
should  not  worship  a  beautiful  body,  but  raise  my  eyes  with  de- 
votion to  a  manufactured  and  unsubstantial  puppet  god.  Time 
came  when  I  could  no  more  find  peace  in  thoughts  formulated  by 
others  and  not  by  myself;  at  that  time  I  began  to  use  my  own 
innate  images  as  symbols  for  my  thought.  Time  came,  also, 
when  my  will  refused  to  be  tied  conventionally;  at  that  time  I 
dared  to  be  myself,  and  I  entered  the  Path. 

Having  found  it  necessary  for  myself  to  give  the  life-element 
its  absolute  freedom  and  experiencing  it  as  the  first  step  in  the 
approach  to  the  Path,  I  now  apply  the  experience  and  present 
to  you  what  I  call  the  " inside"  of  those  terms  and  phrases  which 
philosophy  and  ethics  abound  in.  I  translate  them  into  life- 
forms,  which  I  have  experienced,  and  some  of  them  must  strike 
you  as  they  have  struck  me.  And  I  know  they  are  of  eternal 
value.  I  am  confident  that  if  you  start  with  life-images,  your 
own  reason  and  the  image  in  you  will  clothe  these  life-images 
with  their  celestial  garments  and  you  will  discover  yourself  to  be 
on  the  Path.  It  is  my  experience  that  nobody  can  enter  the 
Path  by  any  other  method.  And  upon  examination  you  will 
find  that  it  is  the  true  psychological  process.  It  is  Nature's 
way  when  she  is  allowed  freedom  with  us. 

Now,  then,  applying  this  principle  of  translating  philosoph- 
ical and  ethical  terms  into  terms  of  the  living,  I  say  that  Sim- 
plicity is  but  another  term  for  mother  and  that  the  sage  is  but 
another  term  for  father  and  that  the  book,  the  Tao-Teh-King, 
is  but  another  term  for  child.  I  mean  to  say  that  the  love-power 
in  us  will  feel  Simplicity  as  the  Mother-power.  And  that  the 
wisdom-power  in  us  will  recognize  the  Sage  as  the  Father-power, 
and,  when  I  shall  have  spoken  about  the  book,  you  readily  will 
acknowledge  that  the  book  must  be  the  child-power.  Indeed, 
this  translation  seems  to  me  so  simple  that  I  feel  it  ought  to 
have  been  unnecessary  to  mention  it. 

These  conceptions,  mother-father-child,  are  living-forces  in 
us,  and  lie  nearer  to  us  than  the  abstract  terms  Simplicity,  sage 


THE   MOTHER  83 

and  book.  We  can  grasp  them  by  our  inherent  vitality  and  the 
image,  and  thus  at-one  ourselves  with  them,  and  having  done 
that  we  can  hereafter  raise  them  to  any  potential  power  we  wish. 
In  the  conceptions  mother-father-child  we  get  living  footholds 
and  cannot  lose  ourselves  in  fancies  or  miss  the  real  in  existence. 
They  will  readily  transform  themselves  into  the  Path  for  us. 

But  I  must  proceed.  From  this  talk  about  Simplicity  in 
the  last  chapter  and  about  the  sage  in  this,  I  come  naturally  to 
the  subject  of  the  ancient  people  who  were  so  far  ahead  of  us, 
and  to  the  books  they  have  left  behind  them.  I  will  therefore 
say  something  about  the  recovery  of  the  ancient  wisdom  and 
speak  especially  in  praise  of  the  Tao-Teh-King  as  one  of  the 
marvels  of  ancient  wisdom.  I  was  laughed  at  the  other  day 
when  I  recommended  a  certain  learned  man  to  read  the  Tao-Teh- 
King  and  advised  him  to  learn  something  from  people  of  an- 
other race  and  of  prehistoric  character.  I  urged  the  digging 
up  of  old  wells,  and  as  he  was  a  minister,  I  referred  to  Isaac 
who  dug  up  the  ' '  old  wells ' '  and  found  them  flowing  with  fresh 
water.  With  scorn  he  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
ancients,  barbarians,  he  called  them.  He  wanted,  he  said,  only 
the  newest  new;  only  the  mental  products  of  this,  his  own  age. 
For,  said  he,  ' '  there  is  and  can  be  no  connection  between  myself 
and  those  ancient  ones."  I  never  argue  with  a  man  that  stands 
in  his  own  light.  What  would  be  the  use?  I  left  him,  only 
asking  him  if  there  were  any  connection  between  him  and  his 
ancestors  of  yore?  Did  you  make  yourself?  How  about  your 
nationality  and  race  characteristics?  What  vital  connection  is 
there  or  can  there  be  between  you  and  the  theology  you  learned 
at  the  seminary?  Of  course,  the  answers  to  these  questions 
would  refute  his  conceit,  but  I  did  not  force  the  answers.  To 
refuse  to  read  such  an  old  book  as  the  one  I  referred  to,  or  to 
learn  of  the  ancients  is  as  rational  as  not  to  recognize  the  spring 
of  the  day.  Surely  the  day  spring  is  older  than  any  book.  People 
cannot  deny  it.  Why  not  deny  it?  But  they  do  not.  On  that 
point  Nature  forces  them  to  learn  her  lesson,  it  is  so  her  minis- 
try; on  other  points,  they  are  left  free  to  act  and  unworthy  as 
most  of  their  free-will  acts  are.  They  arrogantly  refuse  to  listen. 
This  is  another  of  the  many  faults  I  have  pointed  out  from  time 
to  time  in  our  modern  life  and  another  source  of  many  of  our 
troubles. 

An  age  cannot  stand  apart  from  the  age  that  precedes  it, 
as  little  as  an  individual  can  stand  apart  from  its  parents  and 


84  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

other  ancestry.  To  learn  what  to-day  means,  we  must  return 
to  yesterday's  task  and  its  lessons,  be  they  finished  or  not. 
Nature's  method  points  the  lesson.  The  spring  of  the  day  or 
morning ;  the  noon,  and  the  dusk  and  the  night  resemble  Spring, 
Summer,  Autumn  and  Winter.  Nature  has  arranged  it  so,  by 
making  the  diurnal  revolution  of  the  earth  upon  its  own  axis 
correspond  to  the  annual  revolution  of  the  earth  around  the 
sun.  And  Nature  makes  all  her  children  move  in  that  fashion, 
and  by  so  doing  she  both  repeats  herself  and  teaches  new  lessons ; 
she  constantly  renews  and  constantly  returns  again  to  the  same 
point,  but  on  each  stage  she  teaches  something  new  and  forces 
a  new  development.  We  are  constantly  in  the  midst  of  her,  yet 
never  see  the  beginning  nor  end,  but  we  are  constantly  taught 
nevertheless.  Anyone  refusing  to  reconsider  the  old  teachings 
is  a  disobedient  child  and  must  necessarily  be  crushed  sooner  or 
later,  because  the  wheel  of  Nature's  rotation  cannot  be  stopped. 
Modern  culture  is  near  being  crushed  because  it  does  not  follow 
Nature's  method.  It  has  cut  itself  off  from  Nature  and  at- 
tempts to  rest  upon  self  alone.  Though  I  was  laughed  at,  as  I 
told  you,  I  nevertheless  recommend  a  return  to  the  old  wells, 
and  I  recommend  that  we  dig  them  up  again.  From  experience 
I  know  that  modern  culture  does  not  contain  the  essential  life. 
From  experience  of  a  long  life,  I  also  know  that  there  is  a 
stream  of  clear  water  flowing  through  much  of  the  ancient  learn- 
ing and  that  he  who  drinks  of  it  never  shall  thirst  again.  One 
of  the  old  wells  that  gushes  forth  such  pure  water  is  called  the 
Tao-Teh-King.  It  is  with  this  well,  as  with  so  many  of  the  old 
wells,  they  must  be  dug  up.  The  digger  is  the  Inner  Life  and  the 
sensible  people  of  to-day  who  long  for  the  Inner  Life. 

Let  me  talk  a  little  about  wells  and  caves  and  on  their  sym- 
bolism, or,  how  they  are  to  be  revered,  because  they  are  veils 
that  reveal;  and  not  veils  that  cover  up.  I  wish  to  speak  of 
wells  anil  caves  because  of  the  water  that  flows  from  them.  In 
Nature  they  play  a  part  that  resembles  the  work  of  the  heart 
in  our  organism.  As  life  flows  from  the  heart  and  returns  to  it, 
so  water  flows  from  the  eaves  and  returns  to  them  by  way  of  tb* 
clouds.  In  my  last  lecture,  I  described  at  length  the  importance 
of  water,  such  as  Laotzse  and  his  disciples  saw  it,  and  I  added 
what  Science  had  to  contribute;  it  is  therefore  quite  natural  that 
I  now  should  say  something  about  its  source  or  sources.  And 
whatever  I  shall  say  adds  to  the  instruction  given  about  Sim- 
plicity and  the  sage  if  yon  will  make  the  application. 


NATUBE  85 

In  the  first  place,  wells  or  caves  do  not  originate  the  water, 
to  speak  properly.  They  are  the  vessels  that  gather  it  and  send 
it  forth  in  different  directions.  In  the  Alps  you  may  climb  a 
mountain,  the  St.  Gotthardt,  and  from  that  one  mountain  see 
three  rivers  flow  out  in  various  directions.  The  Rhine  is  the 
conflux  of  these  three  rivers.  The  three  rivers  start  in  icy 
caves.  The  three  rivers  united  in  one  as  the  Rhine  have  been 
the  leaders  of  much  of  the  most  important  European  history 
from  the  time  of  the  Romans.  Why,  we  do  not  know.  The  fact 
is  there.  From  three  repositories  on  St.  Gotthardt  these  rivers 
are  sent  forth.  The  mountain  gathers  the  water  and  stores  it 
up  in  glaciers  and  from  these  it  fills  the  wells,  and  the  wells 
give  birth  to  the  stream.  The  mountain,  the  glaciers,  the  caves 
and  the  streams  are  ever  the  same,  yet  they  are  never  old,  but 
remain  ever  young  and  fresh.  Ancient  Druids  and  priests  of 
Nerthus  heard  me  eternal  passion  of  song  that  reverberated 
from  each  drop  of  water  that  fell  in  the  cave.  That  same  song 
is  heard  to-day,  though  not  understood.  In  that  song  Mother 
Nature  assures  the  devotee  that  though  her  children  forsake 
her,  she  will  forever  and  ever  keep  sending  streams,  young  and 
fresh,  into  the  world.  Though  people  think  only  of  using  the 
streams  for  selfish  purposes,  for  saw-mills,  sailing  and  shipping, 
she  will  nevertheless  continue  to  submit  and  ask  no  rewards. 
St.  Gotthardt,  of  course,  means  "God's  Heart,"  and  tbe  song  is 
one  of  assurance  that  Love  never  shall  cease  to  flow  from  God's 
heart.  Look  upon  caves  and  wells  and  springs  in  that  way  and 
you  shall  see  that  such  symbolism  is  even  richer  than  other 
meanings  often  attributed  to  them. 

The  Tao-Teh-King  is  such  a  mountain  like  St.  Ootthardt, 
and  from  it  springs  three  rivers :  Tao  and  Teh  and  the  King.  Tao 
and  Teh  are  living  forces  and  King  is  the  book  containing  them. 
No  matter  how  much  foolishness  commentators  fill  it  with,  the 
original  stream  is  as  pure  to-day  as  ever.  And  now  I  will  tell 
you  the  story  of  its  origin  and  you  can  interpret  it  yourself.  The 
legend  is,  that  Laotzse,  disgusted  with  the  corruption  of  the 
court,  left  his  home  in  the  territory  of  Chow,  and  in  order  to 
travel  West  as  he  wished  to,  had  to  go  through  a  mountain  pass 
<©n  the  border.  A  friend  of  his  was  the  warden  of  that  pass. 
While  staying  with  this  warden,  Laotzse  wrote  his  book.  The 
point  I  wish  to  call  attention  to  is  that  it  was  written  in  a 
mountain  pass,  it  was  born  in  a  pass.  There  is  a  connection 
between  a  cave,  a  mountain  pass  and  the  three  rivers,  called 


86  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Tao  and  Teh  and  the  King.  Think  it  over  and  you  will  readily 
see  it  and  you  will  discover  that  mystery,  and  that  mystery  will 
be  a  key  to  the  understanding  of  the  book.  The  book  is,  as  you 
readily  can  infer,  I  mean  to  say,  more  than  a  book  and  its  mean- 
ing is  not  understood  except  by  those  who  have  heard  the  voices 
of  the  sea  and  of  the  mountain,  voices  I  spoke  of  in  my  second 
lecture.  Many  can  read  the  book  and  many  have  read  it  with- 
out any  mystery.  But  I  can  assure  you  that  only  those  get  its 
full  meaning  who  can  listen  to  its  sentences  as  they  would  listen 
and  interpret  the  flow  of  water  from  out  of  a  cave.  I  know  I 
am  mystifying  some  of  you,  but  I  dare  not  express  myself  any 
clearer.  Moreover,  your  own  discovery  will  be  of  far  more  value 
to  you  than  anything  I  could  say  in  plain  language. 

I  have  said  all  this  about  caves  and  wells,  because  I  argue 
for  the  digging  up  of  that  old  well,  I  call  the  Tao-Teh-King, 
hoping  that  when  I  have  got  so  far  as  to  have  led  your  thoughts 
to  it  as  a  well  of  old,  I  may  be  able  to  take  the  next  step  and 
put  some  life  into  that  cave  or  well,  and  henceforth  call  it  a 
Heart,  a  living  source  rather  than  a  cave  or  an  inorganic  hollow. 
If  I  can  get  that  conception  of  Heart  accepted,  I  will  be  under- 
stood when  I  say  that  Tao-Teh-King  flows  with  living  water, 
which  will  quench  all  thirst  and  none  shall  thirst  again  after 
having  tasted  its  waters.  And  I  have  used  the  language  I  have 
chosen  because  this  so-called  book  is  no  book  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  a  book.  It  is  a  living  being.  It  is  an  avatar,  a  revela- 
tion and  can  only  be  fully  comprehended  if  treated  as  coming 
from  the  heavenly  cave,  whence  are  born  anew  Heaven  and 
Earth  every  moment.  It  was  a  great  misfortune  for  Peter 
Schlemilch  that  he  cast  no  shadow,  but  it  is  for  the  Tao-Teh- 
King  a  proof  of  its  celestial  origin  that  it  casts  no  shadow.  It 
is  light  itself  and  does  not  stand  in  derived  light.  I  am  not 
exaggerating.  Your  own  experience  will  prove  the  truth  of  what 
I  say ;  but  no  intellectual  research  will  do  it.  No  flippant  criti- 
cism ever  won  fair  love,  nor  will  the  book  reveal  itself  where 
conceit  reigns.  The  silver  thread  that  runs  through  it  is  spun 
out  of  love's  heart.  As  the  spider  spins  its  web  out  of  its  own 
organism  and  lives  in  it,  so  is  this  stream  of  life,  called  Tao-Teh- 
King,  flowing  as  a  living  soul  into  the  real  student. 

Birds  gather  twigs  and  leaves  for  their  nests;  all  material 
from  the  outside.  The  learned  collect  fragments  from  here  or 
there,  and  putting  these  fragments  together  with  bits  of  fancy 
steeped  in  midnight  oil,  they  call  the  product  philosophy.    But 


CAVES  AND  WELLS  87 

bees  and  spiders  do  differently,  and  so  do  the  sages.  The  honey 
the  bee  brings  home  has  been  rejuvenated  by  the  bee  and  trans- 
formed from  inorganic  stuff.  The  web  of  the  spider  is  its  own 
body.  The  sage  is  not  a  collector.  He  is  a  spontaneous  pro- 
ducer. 

As  the  book  is  of  such  a  peculiar  nature,  it  will  not  surprise 
you  that  I  should  say  something  about  how  to  read  in  it — I  say 
"in  it,"  I  do  not  say  "read  it."  You  never  can  do  the  latter. 
The  first  characteristic  of  the  book  is  that  it  can  be  read  like 
any  other  moral  treatise  and  will  yield  splendid  results.  Its 
teachings  treated  as  merely  human  sense  must  by  all  be  con- 
sidered as  high  and  noble  as  any  ethics  taught  anywhere.  More- 
over, from  a  purely  literary  point  of  view,  there  is  not  a  single 
sensual  blot  in  it  on  any  page.  It  never  falls  below  propriety, 
no  matter  what  straight-jacked  school  may  hold  up  the  standard 
of  what  is  proper  and  right.  In  other  words,  the  book  naturally 
and  literally  is  a  model  catechism  in  public  and  private  morals. 
Reading  it  as  such  requires  no  special  attitude  or  devotion.  But 
reading  in  it  is  different  from  reading  it,  and  I  confess  I  find  it 
difficult  to  say  just  what  I  mean.  But  here  are  some  leading 
thoughts.  You  have  perhaps  seen  old  devout  people  reading 
their  Bible  with  folded  hands  before  them  and  reading  with 
prayer  for  enlightenment.  If  you  have  not  seen  or  heard  it  in 
reality,  perhaps  you  have  seen  paintings  in  which  this  was 
shown.  To  say  the  least,  that  custom  of  the  folded  hands  and 
of  prayer  is  very  beautiful.  Some  also  cross  themselves,  and 
that  represents  to  them  an  act  of  faith.  In  India  no  Brahmin 
reads  a  text  without  intoning  the  Om,  and  no  Mohammedan 
begins  or  ends  a  prayer  without  reciting  his  creed — "La-ilaha-il- 
lal-laho,"  and  so  forth:  "There  is  no  Diety  but  God,"  and  so 
forth.  Everywhere,  where  people  have  any  degree  of  the  Inner 
Life,  and  even  where  only  ancient  ceremonies  remain,  they  utter 
themselves  in  words  of  praise,  thanks  or  adoration.  If  they  do 
that  spontaneously,  their  ejaculations  will  stir  them  profoundly; 
all  externals  will  vanish  or  recede,  thus  permitting  the  soul  to 
unfold  and  the  spirit  to  become  free.  In  that  unfoldment  and 
that  freedom  there  is  absorption  into  the  Divine,  and  the  outcome 
is  either  high  ecstacy  or  an  illumination.  It  is  told  of  an  old 
woman,  who  was  ordered  by  her  father  confessor  to  say  seven 
pater  nosters,  that  when  she  next  time  came  before  him  and  was 
asked  if  she  had  done  as  directed,  she  answered  No!  she  had 
come  no  further  than  "Our  Father"  of  the  first  prayer,  and 


88  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

why?  Because  the  intonation  of  that  appellative  had  thrown 
her  into  ecstasy  and  absorbed  all  the  rest  of  the  prayer. 

If  you  can  learn  to  say  Ta-o  with  that  fire,  you  will  under- 
stand what  I  meant  by  calling  the  Tao-Teh-King  an  avatar.  But 
if  you  cannot  say  Ta-o,  say  or  act  as  your  heart  and  imagination 
prompts  you.  Do  or  say  something !  Again.  All  sentences  and 
sometimes  single  words,  no  matter  what  the  language  may  be, 
are  merely  hieroglyphics  that  represent  an  image  that  passed 
before  the  mind  of  the  writer.  It  is  that  image  we  must  get 
hold  of  when  we  read.  If  we  do  not  get  hold  of  it,  we  do  not  get 
from  our  reading  that  which  we  ought  to  get.  To  get  that  image, 
we  must  let  the  sentence  read  present  itself  before  our  inner 
eye.  We  do  that  best  by  meditation,  not  by  prying  into  its 
meaning,  possible  or  impossible.  The  sentence  contains  the 
Image,  even  if  the  sentence  is  poor  linguistics.  Sit  still  and 
meditate,  that  is  my  advice ! 

The  power  of  single  words  is  forcefully  illustrated  by  a  story 
told  by  Dr.  Kober  about  Jacob  Bohme.  The  two  were  walking 
in  the  fields,  when  the  Doctor  happened  to  use  the  Platonic  word 
"Idea."  No  sooner  had  he  pronounced  it  than  Jacob  Bohme,  in 
ecstacy,  exclaimed,  "Ah!  I  see  the  heavenly  Virgin!"  Bohme 
had  never  heard  the  word  before.  The  explanation  was  per- 
fectly rational  and  is  easily  explained,  because  "Idea"  to  Plato 
means  a  God.  Bohme  caught  the  Inner  Life  of  the  word.  I  my- 
self possess  several  such  words.  One  of  those  words  I  got  from 
the  Tao-Teh-King,  and  I  have  prepared  a  chapter  on  it,  which 
you  will  find  as  you  continue  to  read ;  that  word  can  throw  me 
into  an  ecstatic  condition,  and  I  have  found  a  couple  of  images 
that  will  unlock  many  mysteries  of  the  Inner  Life  as  well  as  the 
outer.  There  is  nothing  marvellous  about  this,  and  I  do  not 
consider  myself  better  gifted  than  any  of  you.  Some  of  you 
probably  possess  similar  words  and  images,  but  have  perhaps 
not  brought  them  consciously  into  use.  I  have  come  into  pos- 
session of  these  words  and  images  by  devotion  and  by  perpetual 
meditation  on  them. 

Will  you  not  do  something  of  this  kind?  You  need  no 
teacher.  The  teacher,  the  sage,  is  within.  All  you  need  is  Sim- 
plicity, Truth  of  life  and  the  Mother. 


LAOTZSE 
VI. 

I  WILL  now  give  an  account  of  Laotzse  and  his  book.  I  will 
first  tell  the  little  that  is  known  about  him,  personally,  and 
then  I  will  examine  the  character  of  the  historic  period  in 

which  he  lived,  and  it  shall  be  seen  what  a  remarkable  man 
he  was.  Finally  I  will  give  a  summary  of  his  book.  He  was  of 
a  good  family,  possibly  of  royal  descent,  and  born  604  B.  C.  in 
Ku,  a  hamlet  in  Tsu  in  Honan.  Very  little  is  known  about  him, 
but  we  know  that  he  was  librarian  or  custodian  of  the  archives 
of  Cho,  a  city  in  south-western  China.  He  was  called  by  many 
names,  such  as  "the  old  philosopher,"  because,  according  to 
tradition  he  was  white  haired  like  an  old  man,  when  he  was  bom. 
Tradition  also  tells  that  he  was  80  years  old  when  born,  having 
been  all  that  time  is  his  mother's  womb.  He  is  also  called  "the 
ancient  prince,"  "the  old  child,"  which  means  "he  who  even  as 
an  old  man  remains  child-like;"  he  was  also  called  "the  greatly 
eminent  ancient  master."  After  his  death,  the  title  of  Tan  was 
conferred  upon  him.  Tan  means  "master"  and  is  the  same  as 
the  title  "Christ"  given  Jesus,  and  "Buddha"  given  to  Sakya- 
Muni.  As  we  now  say  "Jesus,  the  Christ,"  so  Taoists  say  Lao- 
Tan  :  Lao,  the  master.  Much  has  been  fabled  about  his  connec- 
tion with  Babylonian  and  Chaldean  history,  but  no  historic  au- 
thority exists  for  any  of  those  speculations. 

I  want  here  in  the  name  of  justice  to  all  of  the  ancient 
prophets  and  teachers  to  protest  against  the  modern  scholars' 
theory  of  borrowing.  It  has  become  the  custom  among  scholars 
to  search  for  plagiarism  everywhere  among  the  ancients,  deny- 
ing the  old  wisdom-teachers  any  originality.  In  this  country 
among  the  half  studied  it  is  common  to  hear  that  all  teachings 
are  derived  from  India.  It  is  about  as  intelligent  as  to  say  that 
our  civilization  is  derived  from  the  Hottentots  or  from  some 
African  negro.     The  natural  question,  therefore,  is:  where  did 


90  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

all  this  wisdom  which  it  is  claimed  was  stolen  from  somebody 
else — where  did  it  originate?  Who  originated  it!  Our  wise- 
acres never  ask  themselves  this  question !  The  truth  about  the 
ancient  wisdom,  as  about  wisdom  today,  is  this :  the  human  mind 
and  heart  are  everywhere  and  always  were  capable  of  originat- 
ing it  for  themselves  without  teaching  or  impulse  from  another. 
All  ancient  wisdom  has  originated  spontaneously,  and  that  is 
the  explanation  of  its  origin. 

If  you,  my  reader,  would  live  truly  and  not  lose  yourself  in 
all  kinds  of  distractions,  you  could  equal  or  transcend  Laotzse, 
Buddha,  and  all  the  great  teachers,  and  you  could  do  that  with- 
out any  teacher.  All  you  need  to  do  is  *  *  to  be  as  you  are, ' '  like 
those  most  ancient  Chinese  the  Tao-Teh-King  speaks  of,  said: 
4 '  We  are  what  we  are, ' '  and  who  did  not  know  who  ruled  them 
nor  cared.     Yes,  that  is  all  that  is  needed ! 

That  Laotzse  was  a  genuine  theosophic  mystic  and  not  a 
copyist  appears  from  his  book,  the  Tao-Teh-King.  In  the  20th 
chapter  he  makes  the  following  confession,  the  only  known  per- 
sonal statement  we  have:  "The  multitude  of  men  are  happy, 
so  happy,  as  though  they  were  celebrating  a  great  feast.  They 
behave  as  though  it  were  springtime  and  they  were  ascending 
a  high  tower.  I  alone  remain  quiet,  alas !  like  one  who  expects 
nothing  of  the  future.  I  am  like  a  baby  who  cannot  yet  smile. 
Forlorn  I  am;  oh  so  forlorn!  It  appears  that  I  have  no  place 
where  I  may  find  a  home.  The  multitude  of  men  all  have  plenty 
and  I  alone  am  empty.  Alas!  I  must  be  foolish?  Ignorant  I 
am;  oh  so  ignorant!  Common  people  are  bright,  so  bright.  I 
alone  am  dull.  Common  people  are  smart;  oh,  so  smart.  I 
alone  am  confused;  oh  so  confused!  Desolate  I  am,  alas!  like 
the  sea.  Adrift,  alas !  one  who  has  no  place  where  to  stay.  The 
multitude  of  men  all  possess  usefulness.  I  alone  am  awkward, 
and  a  rustic,  too.  I  alone  differ  from  others;  but  I  reverence 
the  Mother."  This  is  the  description  of  a  man  on  the  Path  and 
also  his  groans,  but  there  is  no  bitterness  in  them.  It  is  the 
lamentation  of  a  man  who  has  moments  when  he  is  very  un- 
happy because  he  feels  the  world's  indifference  to  its  own  wel- 
fare and  feels  his  solitary  position  and  longs  for  a  company  he 
cannot  find.  As  a  sage,  he  is  homeless  and  feels  it  when  others 
rejoice  around  him.  By  the  way,  this  condition  of  homeless- 
uess,  this  being  a  man  without  a  country  and  a  home,  is  one  that 
comes  with  various  degrees  of  force  to  all  who  are  on  the  Path; 
you  may  hear  them  moan,  but  you  never  hear  a  cry  of  bitterness. 


LAOTZE  91 

or  anger,  or  regret.  Do  not  consider  such  lamentations  to  be 
signs  of  weakness.  It  cannot  be  avoided;  it  must  be  endured 
and  the  rewards  are  sure.  The  time  will  come  when  we  no  more 
crave  for  sympathy.  You  have  read  about  this  in  "The  Voice 
of  the  Silence."  Cheer  up  fellow  sufferer.  Paul  was  a 
fool  for  Christ's  sake.  Laotzse  was  a  fool  for  the  sake  of  Tao! 
And  his  lamentations  are  exclamations  in  moments  of  loneliness, 
moments  that  even  the  wisest  and  the  most  self-centered  people 
have.  At  the  same  time,  as  they  are  cries  of  suffering  they  are 
also  witnesses  to  his  greatness.  No  mean  man,  no  mere  hypo- 
crite would  or  could  so  frankly  characterize  himself  that  way. 

Laotzse 's  Theosophy  centers  around  the  two  words  Tao 
and  Teh  and  his  book  is  called  Tao-Teh-King,  which  means,  the 
Book  about  Tao  and  Teh.  What  these  two  words  mean,  I  shall, 
in  this  and  in  subsequent  chapters  explain,  and  you  shall  find,  I 
trust,  an  incentive  in  them  to  dive  deeper  into  the  mysteries 
which  they  reveal. 

Personally,  Laotzse  is  the  center  of  his  book  and  also  the 
beginning  of  a  radically  new  development  of  the  human  mind 
and  heart.  It  is  not  easy  nor  necessary  now  at  the  beginning  of 
the  study  to  define  fully  what  the  mental  and  moral  state  of 
China  was  just  before  Laotzse.  You  will  see  that  easier  when 
you  shall  have  become  familiar  with  the  book  itself.  I  will 
therefore  omit  such  definition  and  description  for  the  present. 
But  it  is  possible  to  indicate  what  the  historic  appearance  of 
Laotzse  means  by  comparing  him  and  his  appearance  to  some 
contemporary  and  later  movements  in  history.  I  will  try  to  do 
that, 

Laotzse  was  born  604  B.  C,  or  at  the  time  when  Rome  was 
just  built  and  in  early  childhood,  and  not  yet  of  any  universal 
value  or  significance.  Nearly  two  hundred  years  later  than 
Laotzse,  Greece  began  in  her  way  to  talk  about  the  same  prob- 
lems which  Laotzse  already  so  long  before  had  fully  stated,  and 
moreover  introduced  into  life,  in  a  most  vigorous  way  and  by 
great  disciples.  By  comparing  him  and  his  work  with  Greece 
and  Rome  in  point  of  time  you  see  how  the  new  cycle,  which  he 
and  they  represent,  begins  with  him  as  a  sunrise  and  ends  with 
them  as  a  sunset. 

And  here  are  some  other  facts  to  prove  the  same  point.  As 
Laotzse  is  chief  among  Turanian  people,  so  is,  at  this  time, 
Babylonia  chief  among  the  Semitic  people,  and  typified  by  Ne- 
buchadnezzar. At  this  time  he  had  subjugated  Judea,  destroyed 


92  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Jerusalem  and  awed  Egypt.  Nineveh  was  razed  to  the  ground 
the  year  before  Laotzse  was  born  and  three  years  later  Daniel 
was  ennobled  for  his  interpretation  of  dreams.  Ezekiel  saw 
allegorical  visions.  In  India,  a  little  later,  Sakya-Muni,  the 
Buddha,  began  to  preach  the  true  doctrine  of  freedom  and  right 
knowledge. 

In  other  words,  on  a  limited  space  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
reaching  a  few  degrees  north  and  south  and  stretching  from  the 
western  part  of  China  towards  the  Mediterranean  sea,  a  pecu- 
liar awakening  and  revelation  took  place.  The  space  may  be  in- 
scribed in  a  geometrical  figure  of  a  parallelogram  of  a  few  de- 
grees north  to  south  and  a  few  more  east  to  west.  (See  Dia- 
gram.) One  might  imagine  a  great  temple  erected  upon  that 
parallelogram  with  its  entrance  in  the  east,  represented  by 
Laotzse,  and  its  altar  in  the  west,  represented  by  the  New  Age, 
which  is  upon  us.  Its  southern  wall  would  be  represented  by 
Buddha  and  the  Gita  and  the  northern  by  Jesus.  Such  a  design 
and  idea  is  not  so  fanciful  as  some  might  think.  It  is  a  fact 
that  Laotzse,  the  Gita,  Buddha  and  Jesus,  and  let  me  add  to 
them  the  New  Age:  these  four  represent  the  essentials  of  the 
Great  Cycle  we  live  in.  Their  ideas,  their  historical  sequence 
and  the  power  they  have  exerted,  all  confirm  the  conception. 
Historically,  it  is  easy  to  verify  what  I  say,  namely,  that  there 
is  not  a  single  wisdom  idea  to  be  found  among  us  which  was 
not  born  then ;  nor  is  there  a  single  religious  idea,  that  we  today 
characterize  as  of  eternal  value,  which  was  not  born  within  that 
parallelogram  I  have  drawn.  We  of  today  are  simply  the  in- 
heritors!— and  what  have  we  done  with  our  patrimony1?  Have 
we  invested  it  to  get  its  full  power  in  current  value?  I  think 
not !  I  believe  there  is  much  in  the  teachings  and  life  of  those 
four,  Laotzse,  the  Gita,  Buddha  and  Jesus,  that  we  have  not 
yet  discovered.     I  hope  the  New  Age  will  discover  it. 

The  parallelogram,  I  have  drawn,  and  the  ideas  I  connect 
with  it,  point  to  the  ideas  mentioned  in  a  former  chapter  on 
templum.  I  believe  the  templum  of  our  cycle  stands  in  the 
heavens  above  that  earthly  space.  Do  you  understand  me?  I 
think  it  worth  while  for  you  to  study  these  suggestions;  they  are 
not  only  occult,  but  they  are  historical,  too,  and  everyone  of  you 
is  historically  affected  by  these  sages  and  the  movements  that 
sprang  from  them.  Everywhere  else  outside  that  parallelogram 
on  the  face  of  the  earth,  where  man  lived,  he  existed  upon  rem- 
nants of  other  civilizations,  if  civilizations  they  can  be  called; 


TEMPLUM 


93 


94  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

civilizations  radically  defective,  when  compared  to  the  new  forms 
that  came  in.  Such  historic  facts  must  not  be  overlooked  or 
thought  of  as  of  no  or  little  value.  On  the  contrary,  they  are 
of  the  greatest  value. 

Some  one  will  now  ask  about  the  value  and  significance  of 
India  and  all  its  marvelous  religions,  thinking  perhaps  that  I 
misjudge  India's  position.  They  will  want  to  know  how  these 
are  related  to  Laotzse,  to  Greece,  and  to  the  mighty  Semitic 
force  of  the  days  I  speak  about.  I  can  answer  those  questions 
easily.  India  and  all  its  religions  and  customs  lie  on  an  anterior 
plane  of  development.  India,  or  Brahmixiism,  was  not  human 
as  the  human  is  represented  by  Laotzse;  it  is  and  was  godly; 
man  is  and  was  of  no  significance ;  the  gods  are  and  were  all  and 
everything.  But  with  the  other  peoples,  man  is  born  as  Man 
and  his  significance  in  the  world  economy  is  established.  That 
is  the  difference.  Brahminism  knows  of  no  sage  who  is  active  in 
the  world  and  desirous  of  raising  the  world.  Buddha  and  the 
Gita  are  the  ones  who  first  see  and  establish  the  basis  for  free- 
dom. Brahminism  knows  of  no  such  struggle  as  that  which 
took  place  among  the  Semites,  the  object  of  which  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Kingdom  of  God,  the  One,  among  men.  Brahmin- 
ism was  priest-craft,  and  fought  for  its  own  glory  and  the  glory 
of  its  gods.  Brahminism  knows  of  no  such  mental  boldness  and 
revolutionary  ideas  as  those  which  lie  in  the  Socratic  dictum: 
"Man  is  the  measure  of  all  things." 

It  is  easy  then  to  see  the  radical  difference  between  Laotzse, 
the  Semites  and  Buddha  on  one  side  and  Brahminism  on  the 
other;  and,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  progressive  ideas 
are  with  the  former.  As  for  the  Bhagavad-Gita,  it  is  not  a  brah- 
minical  product  in  the  sense,  I  have  given  Brahminism.  Its 
ideas  belong  to  the  very  period  I  am  defining  and  for  which  I 
claim  so  much.  An  historic  and  a  comparative  study  will  show 
that. 

As  for  other  factors,  which  I  have  not  counted  in,  I  may 
anticipate  questions  about  Zoroaster  and  the  Fire  worshipers, 
which  plainly  lie  within  the  territory  I  mention.  My  answer  is 
simply  this:  I  point  to  the  fact  that  they  have  vanished.  Ex- 
cellent and  wonderful  teachers  they  were,  but  the  eternal,  the 
upbuilding  element,  was  not  in  their  doctrine.  Zoroastrian  doc- 
trine was  mainly  an  ethical  philosophical  doctrine  of  the  per- 
petual fight  of  good  and  evil,  a  dualism  that  contains  no  redemp- 
tion, like  that  offered  by  Laotzse,  Buddha,  the  Gita  and  Jesus. 


WISDOM   AND  VIRTUE  95 

As  for  the  Hebrews,  they  are  the  progenitors  of  Jesus,  the 
last  prophet  and  Master-Mystic.  For  the  rest,  their  glory  lies 
with  all  the  other  Semites,  by  whatever  name  they  be  mentioned, 
all  of  which  were  the  standard  bearers  of  belief  in  the  One.  At 
the  time  of  Laotzse  they  were  sadly  degenerate,  but  had  aready 
established  the  work  they  had  to  do.  I  do  not  think  there  are 
any  other  interrogations  that  I  need  anticipate  and  answer. 

You  are  now  acquainted  with  something  about  the  character 
of  the  time  in  which  Laotzse  appears  and  you  can  see  the  mo- 
mentous importance  of  his  appearance.  It  was,  as  I  called  it,  a 
revelation,  a  beginning  of  a  new  historic  cycle,  and,  I  repeat 
what  I  said  before,  we  are  still  in  it. 

I  shall  now  make  some  comparisons  between  Laotzse,  the 
Gita,  Buddha  and  Jesus  and  their  systems  of  religion,  not  as 
they  exist  in  the  world  today,  but  the  religions  such  as  these 
masters  taught  it  and  instructed  their  disciples  in  it. 

Laotzse 's  system  is  summarized  best  as  a  system  or  doctrine 
of  Wisdom  and  Virtue.  That  definition  will  be  and  is  accepted 
by  all  students  of  the  book,  the  Tao-Teh-King.  Buddha's  one 
object  was  to  emancipate  mankind  from  sin,  sorrow  and  death, 
and  to  teach  the  doctrine  of  right  knowledge  and  right  living. 
Jesus  boldly  bid  his  disciples:  "Follow  me  and  love  one  an- 
pther."  He  was  the  first  and  so  far  the  only  founder  of  a  re- 
ligion whose  doctrine  was  personal.  Another  comparison. 
Laotzse  was  not  missionary  in  any  sense,  but  rather  the  formu- 
lator  and  teacher  for  others,  who  became  propagandists.  The 
Gita  is  clearly  a  Krishna-Logos  doctrine  and  the  law  of  Union 
of  self  with  Self  by  the  fulfilling  of  one's  duty.  The  Gita  is  full 
of  intense  activity,  even  war.  It  is  a  gospel  for  struggling  man. 
It  is  a  character  builder,  not  a  book  for  home-reading.  Buddha 
was  missionary  in  so  far  as  he  preached  the  doctrine;  but  he 
was  not  an  organizer.  His  followers  organized  the  brother- 
hoods, not  he.  Jesus  was  both  a  preacher  and  an  organizer  of 
brotherhoods  and  made  His  own  person  the  center. 

Now,  if  I  leave  out  of  consideration  the  personalities  of  the 
three  sages,  Laotzse,  Buddha  and  Jesus  and  also  the  historic 
systems  that  have  sprung  from  them,  and  have  regard  to  the 
character  of  their  teachings  only,  then  the  result  is,  that  there  is 
a  gradual  development  from  the  universal  in  Laotzse  to  the 
Individual  and  Personal  in  Jesus.  And  such  development  means 
psychologically  that  we  begin  by  learning  and  end  by  becoming 


96  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

realizations  of  that  which  we  originally  learned.  And  that  too 
is  the  sum  total  of  the  Gita. 

If  I  now  take  the  final  step  and  seek  a  comparison  between 
these  four  and  the  fifth  degree — I  mentioned  before  and  called 
the  New  Age — what  then  is  the  result?  It  is  this,  that  these 
four  are  found  to  be  preparatory  to  a  final  transcending  condi- 
tion in  which  we  may  be  lifted  in  to  a  higher  wisdom,  and  an 
interior  union:  into  God- Wisdom  or  Theo-Sophia.  They  are 
our  saviors  from  the  lower  to  the  higher. 

Summarizing  what  I  have  said,  the  result  is  a  clear  view  of 
the  essential  steps  upon  the  Path,  (1)  Instruction  in  Being,  Wis- 
dom and  Virtue;  this  degree  is  represented  by  Laotzse;  (2)  a 
vigorous  attempt  upon  the  attainment  of  freedom;  this  degree  is 
represented  by  Buddha;  (3)  a  personal  realization  of  freedom; 
this  degree  is  represented  by  the  Gita  and  Jesus;  (4)  an  identi- 
fication of  the  traveller  with  the  Path  and  his  transcending  into 
God-Wisdom  or  Theosophy;  this  degree  is  represented  by  the 
Xew  Age. 

I  have  claimed  for  Laotzse  what  a  follower  of  Confucius  will 
deny.  I  have  claimed  first  place  for  him  in  China  because  he  is 
the  one  who  carries  over  into  the  New  Age  that  begins  with  him, 
the  contents,  the  inner  value,  the  kernel  of  all  the  wisdom  the 
previous  ages  had  acquired,  and,  he  is  also  the  one  who  com- 
municates to  the  New  Age  of  China  that  begins  with  him,  the 
virtue,  or,  the  right  principles  of  conduct,  which  the  previous 
ages  had  discovered.  Confucius  did  no  more  than  formulate 
ancient  ceremonies,  the  most  external  of  all  forms  of  life. 
Moreover,  this  ceremonialism  has  been  the  bane  of  China. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  I  have  a  right  to  claim  that  Laotzse 
is  the  regenerator  and  the  true  transition  from  the  prehistoric 
times  to  the  historic  in  China. 

There  may  have  been  Taoism  before  Laotzse,  that  is  to  say, 
similar  ideas  may  have  existed,  and,  no  doubt  they  did,  but  that 
docs  not  warrant  anyone  in  saying,  that  Laotzse  stole  them. 
Such  ideas  as  those  of  Tao  and  Teh  always  exist;  they  are  part 
of  the  constitution  of  the  universe.  They  have  been  discovered 
time  and  again,  but  each  time  revealed  in  a  different  way  suit- 
able to  the  age  that  discovered  them.  Laotzse  discovered  them 
for  his  age  and  the  subsequent  times  and  interpreted  them  for 
the  ( 'hinese,  and.  for  us  in  a  new  and  fresh  form.  You  may  dis- 
cover them  and  interpret  them  anew.  Thousands  of  years  hence 
somebody   else   will    again   discover   them   and   interpret  them. 


TAOISM  97 

All  these  discoverers  are  benefactors,  and  original,  not  plagiar- 
ists. In  a  similar  way,  the  eternal  ideas  of  Buddha's  preaching, 
those  of  the  Gita  and  those  of  Jesus  existed,  before  they  ap- 
peared in  that  form  which  Buddha,  Vyassa  or  Jesus  gave  them. 
These  prophets  and  teachers  discovered  them  for  their  ages  and 
for  us.  They  are  couched  in  forms  that  still  harmonize  with 
the  constitution  of  our  minds. 

A  word  or  two  about  Taoism  after  Laotzse.  Taoism  as  a 
system  and  in  relation  to  Laotzse,  is  much  like  Christianity  in  its 
relation  to  Jesus :  in  both  cases  is  the  founder  ignored,  his  teach- 
ings shamefully  perverted  and  a  priestly  system  substituted  for 
the  founder's  benevolent  and  sublime  ideas.  Taoism  has  tem- 
ples and  a  pope.  It  is  full  of  spiritism,  superstitions  and  pre- 
tenses. It  is  a  mixture  of  alchemy,  polytheism  and  yoga  prac- 
tices. It  is  degeneration  and  disgrace.  But  there  are  Taoists 
outside  these  forms,  just  as  there  are  a  few  friends  of  Jesus  out- 
side the  Churches. 

There  are  many  translations  extant  of  the  Tao-Teh-King. 
They  differ  widely  both  as  to  sense  and  value.  The  cause  of  all 
the  different  renderings  of  various  passages  is  easily  seen.  The 
translators  pursuing  their  scholastic  methods  and  applying  the 
grammatical  rules  of  Indo-European  languages  could  never  hit 
upon  the  right  symbolical  meaning  of  the  Chinese  characters, 
which  are  symbols  of  ideas  and  not  verbal  representations  of 
words.  Unless  the  Chinese  characters  are  interpreted,  both  as 
to  sound  and  to  ideographic  form,  they  never  can  be  rightly 
understood.  I  will  give  you  a  couple  of  illustrations.  A  Jap- 
anese, now  studying  at  Columbia  University,  has  told  me  that 
false  intonation  caused  a  missionary  to  say  to  his  pupils:  "Go 
to  hell, ' '  when  he  wanted  to  say : ' '  Go  home. ' '  Another  mission- 
ary attempted  to  teach  his  pupils  the  Lord's  Prayer  and  made  a 
fatal  mistake  in  the  very  beginning  of  that  prayer.  He  wanted 
to  say  "Our  Father,"  but  he  did  say  "Fat  pig."  In  the  texts 
1  shall  use,  I  have  avoided  the  scholastic  and  distorted  transla- 
tions, where  the  ideographic  interpretation  was  the  obvious  one. 
Hence  I  claim  that  I  have  been  able  to  detect  many  a  mystic 
sense,  and,  been  able  to  harmonize  many  expressions,  thereby 
gaining  an  insight  into  the  Tao-Teh-King  hitherto  unknown.  I 
have  been  engaged  with  the  Tao-Teh-King  since  1S77,  or  for  32 
years,  and  my  interest  in  the  book  is  ever  increasing.  I  place  it 
very  high  among  the  treasures  that  have  come  to  us  from  the 
East. 


98  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

The  book  is  not  only  full  of  mystic  lore,  but  also  thoroughly 
practical.  In  fact,  it  is  a  hand  book  in  the  ' '  Conduct  of  Life. ' ' 
It  is  a  life  book,  not  diy  philosophy  or  metaphysics  remote  from 
the  problems  of  life.  If  a  man  had  no  other  guide  for  his  spir- 
itual conduct,  he  would  not  be  the  loser,  on  the  contrary,  his 
struggles  for  light  on  the  Path  would  be  easy,  because  the  book 
is  simplicity  itself. 

In  regard  to  the  many  disputes  about  translation  of  certain 
terms  and  all  the  fuss  those  translators  have  made,  I  will  quote  a 
recent  translator  and  commentator  (C.  Spurgeon  Medhust)  who 
makes  the  following  note  appropriately  to  chapter  2:  "A  lotus 
pond  will  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  difference  between  the 
holy  sages  and  the  younger  members  of  the  race.  Covered 
with  broad  green  leaves  and  brilliant  blooms,  it  irresistibly  at- 
tracts child-souls.  They  wade  into  the  water,  sink  in  the  slime, 
and  desperately  struggle  for  the  fragile  petals;  but  the  sages, 
their  elder  brethren,  remain  quietly  on  the  bank,  always  alert  to 
aid  any  who  requires  assistance,  content  to  admire,  content  to 
enjoy  without  desiring  to  possess ;  yet  actually  owning  the  flow- 
ers more  truly  than  the  struggling  crowd  in  the  slimy  pond.  We 
are  feeblest  when  we  are  grasping."  The  child-souls  are  the 
noisy  and  ignorant  translators  who  "know  all  about  it,"  yet 
never  even  know  the  A  B  C  of  the  Tuner  Life. 

Let  me  for  a  moment  drop  the  thread  of  my  subject  and  ask 
you  to  notice  these  words  of  the  quotation  just  read :  ' '  The  sage 
k  content  to  enjoy,  without  desiring  to  possess."  What  sorrow 
we  do  bring  upon  ourselves  when  we  rudely  rush  in,  into  "the 
garden  of  the  gods ' '  to  pluck  flowers,  which  we  vainly  think  we 
own,  because  we  have  torn  them  off.  In  how  many  ways  is  that 
done  ?     Hereafter  try  to  enjoy  beauty  without  possessing  it ! 

I  shall  now  attempt  to  give  you  a  summary  of  the  doctrines 
of  the  book,  but  I  shall  leave  the  word  Tao  untranslated  for  the 
present,  because  the  word  means  so  much  and  I  shall  devote 
several  chapters  to  it.  But  that  some  image  may  stand  now 
before  your  mind,  I  will  say  that  the  word  means  both  Nature, 
Logos,  the  Word  and  Reason,  and  also  the  Way,  the  Truth  and 
the  Life;  it  may  also  be  translated  both  Deity  and  God.  Keep 
these  meanings  in  mind  and  you  may  profit  by  the  following, 
which  is  a  general  summary  of  the  Tao-Teh-King,  leaving  the 
word  Tao  untranslated. 

Tao  existed  as  a  perfect,  but  incomprehensible  Being,  be- 
fore heaven  and  earth  were;  is  immaterial  and  immeasurable, 


TAO  99 

invisible  and  inaudible;  is  mysterious,  yet  manifest,  without 
shape  or  form;  is  supersensuous  and  hidden  from  our  eyes;  is 
incapable  of  being  named  or  denned;  and  the  book  says,  ''One 
needs  not  to  peep  through  his  window  to  see  Tao,  Tao  is  not 
there.  The  farther  one  goes  away  from  himself  the  less  he 
knows."  Tao  is  in  ourselves  first  of  all.  This  then  is  Tao  as 
unmanifested.  But  Tao  is  also  manifested.  Hear:  "Tao  is 
the  external  foundation  of  all  things ;  is  the  universal  progenitor 
of  all  beings  and  only  capable  of  being  named  by  means  of  the 
works.  But  he  who  would  gain  a  knoweldge  of  Tao's  nature 
and  attributes  must  first  set  himself  free  from  all  earthly  de- 
sires. Unless  he  can  do  that,  he  shall  not  be  able  to  penetrate 
the  material  veil  which  interposes  between  him  and  Tao.  Tao 
is  only  revealed  to  those  who  are  free  from  desires.  He  who 
regulates  his  actions  by  Tao  will  become  one  with  Tao.  Tao  is 
the  source  from  which  all  things  come  into  existence — and  to 
which  all  things  return — and  Tao  is  the  means  through  whom 
this  takes  place.  Tao  being  eternal  and  absolutely  free,  has  no 
wants  or  desires,  is  eternally  at  rest  but  never  idle,  does  not 
grow  old,  is  omnipresent,  immutable  and  self-determined,  loves 
all  things  and  does  not  act  as  a  ruler.  Because  Tao  creates,  pre- 
serves, nourishes  and  protects  all  things,  Tao  is  glorified  for  this 
beneficence  and  held  in  high  honor. ' '  You  notice  that  all  this  is 
about  Being  and  Not-Being ;  the  prof oundest  subject  we  can  dis- 
cuss. Tao  is  both  the  beyond  and  also  the  present.  Again,  Tao 
is  the  foundation  of  the  highest  morality.  Tao  alone  bestows 
and  makes  perfect,  gives  peace  and  is  the  universal  refuge,  the 
good  man's  treasure,  the  bad  man's  deliverer  and  the  pardoner 
of  guilt.  Here  again,  is  Tao  in  a  new  aspect;  in  the  aspect  of 
the  moral  power  in  the  world,  or  as  the  judge  and  savior. 

Is  not  all  this  glorious?  Do  you  wonder  that  my  interest  in 
the  book  is  ever  increasing.  Surely  you  will  wish  to  hear  more 
about  this  book  and  its  messages  on  Teh  or  Virtue.  Teh,  or 
conduct,  or  virtue,  is  the  exemplification  of  Tao,  the  realization 
of  Tao,  Tao  brought  into  life. 

I  will  now  supplement  this  description,  which  is  put  together 
from  accurately  translated  sentences  from  the  Tao-Teh-King, 
by  another  general  description  of  Tao  drawn  from  Laotzse's 
famous  disciple  Kwang-zse.  It  is  in  the  form  of  an  instruction 
given  by  a  teacher.  It  is  a  most  practical  instruction  and  Tao  is 
defined  in  relation  to  immortality  and  the  endless  life.  I  shall 
say   something  about   it   after   having   read   the   instructions. 


100  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

' '  Come  and  I  will  tell  you  about  the  perfect  Tao.  Its  essence  is 
surrounded  with  the  deepest  obscurity;  its  highest  reach  is  in 
darkness  and  silence.  There  is  nothing  to  be  seen,  nothing  to  be 
heard.  When  it  holds  the  spirit  in  its  arms  in  stillness,  then 
the  bodily  form  will  of  itself  become  correct.  You  must  be  still, 
you  must  be  pure ;  not  subjecting  your  body  to  toil ;  not  agitating 
your  vital  forces,  then  you  may  live  long.  When  your  eyes  see 
nothing,  your  ears  hear  nothing,  and  your  mind  knows  nothing, 
your  spirit  will  keep  your  body,  and  the  body  will  live  long. 
Watch  over  that  which  is  within  you,  shut  up  the  avenues  that 
connect  you  with  that  which  is  external ;  much  knowledge  is  per- 
nicious. I  will  proceed  with  you  to  the  summit  of  the  *  Great 
Light'  where  we  come  to  the  bright  and  expanding  (element); 
I  will  enter  with  you  the  gate  of  the  dark  and  depressing  ele- 
ment. There  heaven  and  earth  have  their  controllers ;  there  the 
Yin  and  Yang  have  their  repositories.  Watch  over  and  keep 
your  body,  and  all  things  will  of  themselves  give  it  vigor.  I 
maintain  the  (original)  unity  (of  these  elements).  In  this  way 
I  have  cultivated  myself  for  1,200  years  and  my  bodily  form 
knows  no  decay."  [The  translation  is  Legge's  in  "Sacred 
Books  of  the  East."] 

Evidently  Tao  is  here  transcribed  as  immortality  and  the 
endless  life,  but  you  must  not  forget  that  this  is  not  from  the 
Tao-Teh-King,  but  a  product  of  Taozseism  or  the  schools  that 
founded  their  teachings  upon  the  Tao-Teh-King.  However,  the 
Taozeists  deducted  this  teaching  of  longevity  from  the  master's 
book,  hence  it  may  well  be  considered  to  be  in  it.  Now,  I  will 
attempt  to  explain  some  points  of  this  "instruction,"  which  may 
have  been  clear  to  the  Chinese  pupil  of  that  day,  but  certainly  is 
not  to  us  of  today. 

In  the  first  place,  the  teacher  takes  the  pupil  to  "the  deepest 
obscurity."  to  "darkness  and  silence."  That  means  he  takes 
the  disciple  beyond  himself,  beyond  the  world  of  time  and  space, 
and.  that  "beyond"  is  always  described  for  obvious  reasons  in 
negative  terms,  such  as  the  "deepest  obscurity,"  "darkness  and 
silence."  And  literally,  of  course,  there  is  nothing  to  be  seen 
nor  heard,  because  the  state  is  beyond  the  senses,  such  senses 
as  those  which  make  seeing  and  hearing.  Coming  into  that  high 
slate,  "the  spirit  lies  in  the  arms  of  stillness;"  a  poetic  expres- 
sion for  the  fact,  that  the  spirit  now  is  there  where  there  is 
stillness,  because  no  motion  or  change  of  any  kind  takes  place 
nor  ran  take  plare.  simply  because  it  is  the  immovable  world,  the 


TEH  101 

primal  world,  the  world  that  is  perfect  rest  in  itself,  but  from 
which  all  motion  proceeds.  In  former  chapters  I  have  denned 
this  world  and  its  conditions  in  detail. 

After  stating  this,  the  teacher  admonishes  the  pupil  to  be 
still  and  pure ;  that  is  an  important  injunction.  He  who  is  still 
is  the  powerful  one ;  and  he  only  because,  in  stillness  the  inherent 
power  is  not  fretted  away;  we  are  self-controlled  and  that  is 
power.  The  pupil  is  also  admonished  to  be  pure,  that  is,  he  is  to 
be  sincere  or  simple.  The  meaning  of  simplicity  I  developed 
in  the  fourth  and  fifth  chapters  of  this  course.  If  the  pupil  is 
pure,  or,  which  is  the  same,  single  minded,  he  is,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  in  stillness.  Stillness  is  not  possible  without  purity, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  stillness  produces  purity.  No  man  is 
strong  unless  he  is  pure,  and  no  one  can  be  pure  without  being 
strong.     The  two  qualities  condition  one  another. 

Next,  the  teacher  says  to  his  disciple  under  those  conditions 
just  described,  "your  spirit  will  keep  your  body"  and  "the  body 
will  live  long."  In  other  words,  the  teacher  has  shown  the  pupil 
how  to  manage  to  live  long.  Is  that  an  object  in  itself:  to  live 
long?  Nay,  certainly  not!  The  only  justifiable  reason  for  liv- 
ing long  is  to  be  of  use  to  ourselves  and  to  others.  For  no  other 
reason  should  we  wish  to  live  long. 

What  do  I  mean  by  being  of  use  to  ourselves  ?  I  mean,  that 
we  should  wish  to  live  long  in  order  to  recover  all  the  results  we 
have  attained  in  f ormer  lives ;  results  which  now  lie  more  or  less 
dormant  in  most  people.  Unless  those  results  are  recovered  by 
an  awakening,  our  present  incarnation  goes  for  nought  or  may 
even  be  a  hindrance  to  us.  By  being  of  use  to  ourselves  I  mean 
then:  (1)  That  we  awaken.  (2)  That  we  recover  our  buried 
treasures  of  spiritual  life.  (3)  That  we  proceed  further  on  the 
Path.  As  a  matter  of  course,  we  cannot  proceed  unless  we  have 
something  to  travel  on,  and  that  which  we  travel  on  is  our  past. 
The  teacher  speaks  of  this  last  point,  when  he  says  to  the  dis- 
ciple: "I  will  proceed  with  you  to  the  summit  of  the  'Great 
Light.'  " 

And,  finally,  the  teacher  repeats  his  injunction,  "Watch 
over  and  keep  your  body,  and  all  things  will  of  themselves  give 
it  vigor. ' '  I  need  not  now  stop  to  speak  on  this  final  admonition. 
In  the  third  chapter,  I  spoke  extensively  on  a  rational  treatment 
of  the  senses,  "the  flesh,"  so  called.  All  that  which  I  then  said 
openly  or  more  or  less  veiled  relates  to  this  subject  now  brought 
up. 


102  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

We  will  now  return  to  the  subject  in  hand  and  will  let 
Laotzse  himself  speak.  The  master  himself  has  said  something 
equally  as  startling  and,  of  course,  something  that  is  utterly  in- 
comprehensible to  people  who  are  ignorant  of  the  occult  powers 
which  Tao  gives.  Laotzse  in  the  50th  chapter  writes:  "I  have 
heard  it  said  that  a  man  who  is  good  at  taking  care  of  his  life 
may  travel  over  the  country  without  meeting  a  rhinoceros  or  a 
tiger,  and  may  enter  an  armed  host  without  fearing  their  steel. 
The  rhinoceros  finds  in  him  no  place  to  insert  his  horn ;  the  tiger 
finds  no  place  to  fix  his  claw;  the  weapon  finds  no  place  to  receive 
its  blade.  And  why  is  this?  It  is  because  he  is  beyond  the 
reach  of  death. ' ' 

I  have  no  time  to  tell  you  all  the  silly  things  that  have  been 
said  by  the  ignorant  about  this.  You  yourself  will  understand 
that  the  pure  and  good  are  always  protected,  and,  that  one  be- 
comes immortal  when  all  desires  are  killed.  Normally  the  sage 
escapes  the  wild  animal  because  he  is  in  truth  and  they  are  not; 
their  ferocity  and  thirst  for  blood  is  not  truth.  And  because  the 
sage  is  good,  or  partakes  of  God,  the  evil  cannot  touch  him;  evil 
has  no  real  power.  It  is  as  Kwang-zse  said:  "The  sage  is  a 
spiritual  being.  If  the  ocean  were  boiling  he  would  not  feel  hot. 
If  all  the  rivers  were  frozen  hard,  he  would  not  feel  cold. ' ' 

The  mystery  is  further  explained  by  Su  Cheh  who  says: 
"Nature  knows  neither  life  nor  death.  Its  going  forth  we  call  life, 
and  its  coming  in  we  call  death."  The  sage  belongs  neither  to 
those  who  pursue  the  path  of  life,  nor  to  those  who  pursue  the 
jjath  of  death,  he  is  beyond  life  and  death  and  therefore  invul- 
nerable ;  cannot  be  touched  by  death. 

All  this  was  about  Tao.  I  shall  not  say  anything  about  Teh. 
I  have  already  summarized  Teh  in  two  former  chapters  in  which 
I  described  it  as  "Simplicity"  and  the  "Sage."  I  shall,  how- 
ever, come  back  to  it  as  we  proceed. 

I  will  tell  you  in  the  words  of  Goethe  what  to  do  with  this 

book-  "Once  through  the  forest 

Alone  I  went ; 
To  seek  for  nothing 
My  thoughts  were  bent. 

I  saw  i'  the  shadow 

A  flower  stand  there ; 
As  stars  it  glisten 'd, 

As  eves  'twas  fair. 


THE  STUDY  OF  TAO  103 

I  sought  to  pluck  it, — 

It  gently  said : 
'  'Shall  I  be  gather 'd 
Only  to  fade?" 

With  all  its  roots 

I  dug  it  with  care, 
And  took  it  home 

To  my  garden  fair. 

In  silent  corner 

Soon  it  was  set; 
There  grows  it  ever, 
There  blooms  it  yet." 

This  is  what  you  shall  do.  Take  it  home  and  plant  it  again, 
it  will  then  flower  forever.  To  pluck  it  off  as  an  ornament  about 
which  you  may  prate  and  pride  yourself  is  only  killing  it.  Only 
too  many  treat  the  books,  the  ancients  left  us,  that  way.  They 
are  to  them  merely  like  flowers  in  the  buttonhole.  In  the  second 
chapter  I  spoke  of  a  young  student  who  wished  to  add  one  more 
item  to  her  study  and  chose  the  Inner  Life  to  be  that  study,  and, 
while  she  was  looking  out  of  the  window,  her  teacher  vanished. 
I  want  you  to  take  warning  from  that  story,  too.  Merely  to 
study  the  Tao-Teh-King  as  one  of  several  other  studies  will  not 
be  any  more  either  than  a  flower  in  the  buttonhole  that  soon 
fades.  Nay,  you  must  transplant  this  book  into  your  own  home, 
into  your  heart,  root  and  all,  and,  to  do  that  you  must  go  out  into 
the  Open  to  learn  how  nature  works.  This  book  is  not  merely  a 
book  as  thousand  others.  It  looks  like  a  book.  We  call  it  a 
book  from  its  appearance  just  as  we  call  flowers  flowers,  because 
we  have  become  accustomed  to  do  so.  We  have  lost  their  lan- 
guage and  can  no  more  speak  to  them  or  hold  conversations  with 
them  about  the  warmth  they  feel  at  their  roots,  or  answer  the 
whisperings  of  their  leaves  to  the  winds  of  morning  and  even- 
ing, when  mother  earth  changes  her  garments  from  light  to  dark, 
or,  when  she  says  her  morning  prayers  to  the  Sun.  And  that  is 
why  we  call  them  flowers  and  think  we  have  said  all  that  can  be 
said  to  characterize  them.  Our  fairyland  is  lost.  Most  people 
have  lost  what  they  never  really  possessed  and  yet  their  better 
self  followed  them  always  and  called.  To  avoid  this  catastrophe 
I  advise  a  study  and  a  life  according  to  this  book  out  of  doors, 
that  is,  under  the  guidance  of  nature. 


104  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

The  book  is  a  series  of  nature  notes ;  it  is  nature  mysticism. 
It  is  a  song  that  comes  from  nature's  heart  and  not  from  any 
university.  It  is  nature,  or  spirit  made  visible.  You  may  also 
turn  the  sentence  round,  and  say  that  the  book  is  spirit  showing 
us  invisible  nature.  Both  sentences  are  true  and  the  study  may 
be  begun  either  by  starting  in  spirit  and  ending  in  nature  or 
starting  in  nature  and  ending  in  spirit.  If  you  understand  the 
last  chapter  on  ' '  Simplicity  and  the  Sage, ' '  you  will  do  as  I  have 
done  and  still  do.  I  study  this  so  called  book  in  the  Open.  It 
is  only  in  the  open  that  we  see  spirit  and  nature  to  be  One. 

Some  future  day,  when  you  and  I  shall  see  a  new  heaven 
and  a  new  earth,  we  will  be  playing  the  sentences  of  this  book 
on  instruments,  and  its  accords  will  bring  us  in  harmony  with 
the  root  of  existence.  I  am  not  saying  this  merely  to  utter  some 
extravagant  thought.  I  have  had  some  experience  with  Chinese 
thought  that  warrants  my  expressions.  I  shall  speak  more  of 
this  in  future  chapters.     Take  the  book  home ! 


LONGEVITY 
VII. 

IN  the  last  chapter,  I  quoted  a  learned  Taoist  on  Tao  as 
Longevity,  and  I  tried  to  explain  the  master's  instructions 
to  the  pupil — all,  except  one  sentence,  which  I  left  for  this 

chapter. 

That  sentence  was:  "When  it  (Tao)  holds  the  Spirit  in  its 
arms  in  Stillness,  then  the  bodily  form  will  of  itself  become 
correct. ' '  I  will  now  try  to  elucidate  what ' '  Stillness ' '  is.  "What 
I  call  my  ' '  elucidation ' '  will  appear  to  you  as  a  roundabout  talk 
and  not  as  a  direct  elucidation.  It  cannot  be  anything  else 
because  the  subject  is  transcendental.  I  think,  however,  it  will 
be  an  elucidation  and  I  hope  so. 

In  the  six  preceding  chapters  I  have  again  and  again  quoted 
mystic  authors  about  the  necessity  of  overcoming  desires,  lusts, 
passions,  or  whatever  all  those  wild  and  blind  forces  of  Nature 
be  called,  which  are  in  the  way  of  our  development  in  the  spirit- 
ual life  and  which  only  too  often  destroy  us.  It  is  now  high" 
time  that  I  speak  of  other  disturbing  elements,  elements  far 
more  dangerous  than  Nature's  wild  play  with  us.  These  other 
disturbing  elements,  I  shall  now  speak  of,  have  their  very  roots 
in  our  Ego,  in  our  own  will.  Lusts  and  passions  are  merely 
parts  of  our  make  up  and  are  not  fundamental;  they  are  mere 
forms  of  our  objective  existence;  they  are  only  external  to  us; 
they  are  residents  of  the  flesh,  and  merely  visitors  on  the  soul's 
domain. 

I  shall  now  lay  special  stress  upon  the  conflict  in  aim  and 
end  there  is  between  mind  and  inclinations,  between  our  spiritual 
will  and  our  physical  will,  the  two  wills  of  St.  Paul,  with  which 
most  of  you  are  familiar.  In  short,  I  shall  lay  stress  upon  a 
fact  well  known  to  those  who  are  on  the  Path,  or  the  Narrow 
"Way,  so  called,  namely  this,  that  volitionally  we  are  in  conflict 
with  ourselves ;  or  theologically  speaking  we  are  in  sin.    I  shall 


106  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

also  try  to  point  out  how  this  conflict  arises  and  can  be  brought 
to  an  end,  or,  how  we,  to  use  theological  language,  can  be  saved. 
This  subject  is  of  uttermost  importance,  whatever  creed  one 
may  hold.    It  is  a  fundamental  question  for  us  all. 

Let  me  tell  you  now,  right  here  at  the  outset,  that  this  inner 
conflict  I  shall  speak  of  and  will  illustrate  in  various  ways,  this 
inner  conflict  was  unknown  to  all  those  peoples  who  lie  outside 
that  parallelogram  I  described  in  the  last  chapter.  The  conflict 
arises  or  comes  into  history  at  the  moment  the  new  cycle  is 
ushered  in,  and  it  governs  the  whole  period  of  this  our  cycle. 
By  and  by  in  other  chapters  you  shall  hear  Laotzse  describe 
the  "paradisaical"  conditions,  if  I  may  so  call  them,  that  pre- 
vailed in  what  he  calls  "the  ancient  days,"  or  in  the  previous 
cycle;  an  absolute  proof  that  these  conflicts  we  now  know,  and 
which  mankind  has  known  since  his  day,  did  not  exist  before 
his  time. 

The  vedic  writings  do  not  know  this  conflict  as  we  know  it. 
Perhaps  there  is  a  glimmer  of  it  with  Zoroaster.  But  Buddha 
was  fully  aware  of  the  conflict  and  preached  it.  The  Gita  also 
knows  about  it.  Jesus  preached  it,  and  some  of  the  Christians 
have  talked  themselves  deaf,  dumb  and  blind  about  it,  yet  they 
never  understood  it  fully.  It  was  only  very  late  that  the  Greeks 
discovered  the  problem.  Homer  knew  what  "folly"  was,  but 
not  what  "sin"  was.  Aeschylos  and  Sophocles  knew  something 
about  "penalties,"  so  called,  or,  the  karma  that  follows  upon 
disobedience  to  our  Higher  Self,  but  could  not  formulate  the 
principle.  Not  even  Plato  came  to  the  bottom  of  the  problem. 
In  spite  of  all  the  talk  for  nearly  two  thousand  years  in  Christen- 
dom about  sin  and  salvation,  I  do  not  think  it  has  yet  been  un- 
derstood how  it  is  that  we  sin,  nor  how  we  may  be  saved.  That 
a  devil  is  the  cause  of  our  sin  is  folklore  and  no  more.  Children 
may  believe  it,  but  not  mature  minds. 

I  shall  not  pretend  to  know  the  final  solution,  but  I  have 
lived  with  the  problem  before  me  since  a  time  when  many  of  you 
were  not  yet  born,  or,  at  any  rate,  were  too  young  to  have  dis- 
covered it.  And  I  have  had  some  experiences  that  may  be  of 
use  to  others.  Those  experiences,  in  the  form  of  tales  and 
poems,  I  shall  present  to  you,  in  part,  in  this  chapter,  and  in  part 
in  the  next.    Now,  then,  to  the  subject. 

That  which  I  now  say  will  answer  to  the  experience  of  most 
people — in  some  degree.  The  strongest  and  most  individual 
people  know  more  about  it  than  the  weak  and  those  that  pass 


SELF-ASSERTION  107 

through  life  like  sleepwalkers.  Those  that  know  nothing  of 
these  things  are  either  children,  saints  or  beasts.  There  was  a 
time  when  you  began  to  assert  yourself,  began  to  have  your  own 
will,  as  you  called  it;  and  there  was  a  time  when  you  said  or 
thought  that  you  knew  the  truth  of  life  better  than  your  parents, 
friends,  or  teachers.  In  those  states  you  involuntarily  (or  vol- 
untarily) broke  in  such  a  way  with  your  antecedents  and  your 
betters,  that  the  break  perhaps  never  has  healed.  An  antagon- 
ism entered  into  your  existence,  which  has  left  a  permanent  dis- 
turbance, a  disturbance  which  must  be  distressing  to  a  normal 
mind.  Such  splits,  breaks  or  diremptions  may  in  some  be  so 
deep  that  a  permanent  pain  remains  ever  afterwards,  and  they 
may  be  deadly.  You  will  naturally  ask  many  questions  relating 
to  and  about  these  breaks,  such  as  about  their  origin,  their 
psychological  nature.  I  will  try  to  meet  some  of  these  questions. 
The  others  must  wait  till  their  turn  comes.  At  present  I  limit 
myself  to  a  most  characteristic  feature  of  that  cycle  which 
begins  with  the  time  of  Laotzse  and  his  immediate  disciples, 
and  I  say  that  the  characteristic  feature  is  this,  that  the  prin- 
ciples of  form,  law,  order,  truth,  are  revealed  or  laid  bare,  and 
are  discovered  and  realized  by  man.  Of  course,  there  was  form, 
law,  order,  truth  in  Nature  before  this  time,  but  the  human 
mind  was  not  so  constituted  reflectively  that  it  could  grasp  or 
formulate  these  principles. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  these  terms,  form,  law,  order, 
truth,  are  understood.  If  I  am  mistaken,  let  me  state  how  I 
use  them.  I  say  they  are  various  aspects  of  the  same  idea, 
and  that  they  express  the  manner  of  appearance  of  substance, 
or,  that  Something  which  underlies  the  phenomenon.  Take  an 
illustration.  Here  is  a  silver  trumpet.  In  its  case,  the  silver 
is  substance  and  the  appearance  of  the  silver  in  this  case  is  the 
form  (not  the  shape)  of  the  instrument  we  call  trumpet.  It 
is  not  important  as  regards  the  form,  or  the  trumpet  itself, 
whether  the  substance  be  silver,  gold,  copper  or  brass.  Trum- 
pets are  made  of  any  of  these  metals,  but  it  is  most  essential 
that  the  form  in  which  the  metal  is  cast  or  hammered,  is  after 
a  certain  fashion  and  for  a  certain  use,  because  the  fashion  and 
use  determine  whether  it  is  a  trumpet  or  another  instrument. 
In  other  words,  the  form  becomes  the  essential  and  the  sub- 
stance is  not  the  essential.  Again,  this  form,  called  a  trumpet, 
must  be  in  a  certain  shape  in  order  to  be  a  trumpet  and  not  a 


108  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

clarinet,  for  instance.  But  that  is  another  matter;  I  only  say 
this  to  call  attention  to  the  difference  between  form  and  shape. 

Take  another  illustration.  You  and  I  are  all  in  the  form 
of  man  and  that  is  our  determining  quality.  We  are  made  of 
substances  physically  not  different  from  the  substances  in  ani- 
mals. Hence  you  see,  as  regards  ourselves,  as  it  was  with  the 
trumpet,  the  form  is  the  essential.  That  we  differ  among  our- 
selves as  to  shape  is  another  matter. 

From  this  it  will  appear  that  form  is  the  manner  of  ap- 
pearance. And  I  want  to  add  that  we  in  philosophy  often  ignore 
substance,  and  only  value  form,  and  that  confusion  therefore 
often  arises.  That  is  my  use  of  form.  I  might  also  use  the 
words  law,  order,  truth,  for  the  same  purpose,  only  in  varying 
aspects  of  the  same  subject. 

With  this  note,  I  return  to  my  subject,  and  when  I  now 
say,  as  I  shall  say,  that  the  principles  of  form,  law,  order,  truth, 
first  appear  in  the  cycle  that  begins  in  the  time  of  Laotzse,  you 
will  understand  that  mankind  at  that  period  for  the  first  time 
discovered  what  form,  law,  order,  truth  are  cosmically  and 
psychologically,  and  in  contradistinction  to  substance  and  posi- 
tive laws  laid  down  for  the  conduct  of  life ;  two  conceptions  which 
did  not  give  us  that  power,  which  you  shall  hear  me  say  follows 
the  discovery  of  the  principles  mentioned. 

Now,  then,  to  my  exposition.  These  principles  arose  in 
man's  mind  about  five  hundred  years  (or  a  little  more)  before 
Christ,  and  were  fully  established  as  ruling  powers  about  five 
hundred  years  after  Christ.  It  took  mankind  about  a  thousand 
years  to  add  that  intelligent  element  to  its  mentality.  I  said 
these  principles  arose.  They  did  not  arise  as  a  growth  simply, 
their  appearance  is  so  sudden  and  unconnected  with  the  fore- 
gone state,  that  their  appearance  looks  more  like  a  gift,  a  divine 
gift.  I  usually  call  them  a  gift.  For  proof,  you  need  only  look 
into  the  literature  that  is  left  and  to  examine  the  extant  monu- 
ments from  the  previous  cycle.  It  would  indeed  be  most  in- 
structive and  interesting  if  I  now  pointed  out  to  you  the  nature 
of  those  literatures  and  monuments,  but  I  cannot  enter  upon 
such  archaeological  details.  My  present  object  is  not  archaeo- 
logical or  historical,  but  moral  and  practical.  Both  among 
Semites  and  Aryans  you  hear  of  law  books,  but  they  are  not  of 
the  nature  I  speak  of;  they  are  not  of  cosmic  character,  nor 
psychological.  They  are  formulas  for  the  conduct  of  life, 
sociological  edicts,  but  not  thought-forms,  as  I  will  call  them 


THOUGHT-FOBMS  109 

for  the  present,  not  revelations  of  what  we  call  philosophy  and 
art,  but  ought  to  call  Theosophy  or  God-wisdom,  because  these 
thought-forms  are  revelations  of  the  constitution  of  the  cosmos. 
I  call  them  thought-forms  for  the  present,  as  a  most  suitable 
term,  but  you  must  understand  that  these  thought-forms  stretch 
in  variety  from  Laotzse's  Tao  to  St.  Paul's  " gifts  of  the  spirit" 
denned  and  described  in  Corinthians,  Chap.  12.  The  term  is 
therefore  very  elastic  and  contains  much  more  than  merely 
"  thinking. ' '  These  thought-forms  are  declarations,  that,  be- 
sides will,  there  is  in  Nature  and  in  Man  another  power  just  as 
mighty  as  will,  and  because  this  other  power  is  intelligent,  seeing, 
and  not  dumb  or  blind,  so  much  more  superior  to  will.  These 
thought-forms  given  to  or  revealed  to  man  gave  man  from  that 
moment  a  tremendous  influence  in  cosmic  affairs.  In  virtue  of 
this  peculiar  light,  man,  who  before  was  un-free,  now  could  say 
"I"  to  himself  as  never  before  and  was  able  to  throw  the  force 
of  this  will  against  the  course  of  events  and  thus  mould  them 
to  suit  himself.  Before  this  event  man  was  neither  conscious 
of  himself  nor  conscious  of  what  he  could  do  with  himself  or 
for  himself.  After  that  revelation  man  could  and  can  now  say 
as  Pascal  has  formed  the  expression  and  done  it  so  well:  "Man 
is  but  a  reed,  weakest  in  Nature,  but  a  reed  which  thinks.  Were 
the  universe  to  crush  him,  man  would  still  be  more  noble  than 
that  which  has  slain  him,  because  he  knows  that  he  dies.  The 
universe  knows  nothing  of  this." 

I  feel  tempted  to  add  "and  this  knowledge  and  thought 
crushes  the  universe.  The  universe  is  as  nought  against  that 
thought,  that  knowledge."  Do  you  grasp  the  mightiness  of  man, 
his  thought  and  his  knowledge  when  in  conscious  possession  of 
that  wonderful  power?  Pascal's  words  are  a  formulation  of 
the  difference  between  the  universe  and  man  and  it  is  indicated 
what  his  tremendous  power  is :  Thought. 

Like  everything  else,  this  power  can  be  misused.  When 
misused,  those  breaks  I  talked  about  arise. 

Before  I  now  proceed  to  illustrate  the  breaks  by  stories, 
tales,  I  will  show  the  law  by  which  the  persons  of  my  stories 
should  have  acted,  and,  if  they  had  done  so,  there  would  have 
been  no  break. 

That  law,  formulated  at  this  same  historic  period,  is  found 
in  the  Gita  in  the  instructions  given  to  Arjuna.  Arjuna  is  per- 
fectly conscious  of  his  own  power  to  have  his  own  will,  and  he 
wishes  to  have  it,  at  the  same  time  that  duty  demands  that  he 


110  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

shall  obey  and  destroy  the  usurper  of  the  oppressed  land,  though 
to  do  so  involves  the  killing  of  both  friends  and  relativea 
Krishna  teaches  him  that  he  must  drop  all  fears  and  personal 
interests  and  carry  out  the  duty  imposed  upon  him  as  warrior 
and  prince  and  realize  that  it  is  Ishvara,  who  is  both  lord  and 
law,  who  is  the  doer  and  not  Arjuna.  Arjuna  must  realize  that 
he  must  fight  without  passion  or  desire,  without  anger  and 
hatred  and  without  fears.  This  is  the  Gita.  It  is  the  formula- 
tion of  the  law  for  men  of  active  and  combative  tempers.  The 
formulation  lacks  totally  any  and  all  expressions  that  could  place 
it  parallel  to  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  And  that  is  its  weakest 
point.  The  little  book  "The  Voice  of  the  Silence"  supplies 
most  of  the  defects.  The  same  law  put  in  forms  applicable  to 
us,  to  you  and  to  me,  will  be  something  like  this.  Life  is  not 
ours ;  we  are  not  its  originators  nor  responsible  for  events  or 
the  outcome  of  events.  Under  no  circumstances  must  we  judge 
according  to  our  own  inclinations  what  ought  to  be  done,  but 
simply  do  or  not  do,  awaiting  the  course  of  developments,  which 
will  show  us  what  and  how  to  do.  And  to  this  I  may  add  that 
developments  will  come  quickly  in  moments  of  doubt;  they  will 
not  let  us  wait  long.  I  may  also  say  that  they  will  come  in  the 
way  best  suitable  for  us.  Now  you  know  how  hard  it  is  for- 
us  to  believe  this  and  wait.  How  impetuous  we  are,  and  why? 
Because  we  have  that  tremendous  power  I  spoke  of  before,  and 
wish  to  use  it,  wish  to  satisfy  our  own  vanity,  to  prove  how 
mighty  we  are,  all  because  of  ignorance  till  instructed. 

I  will  now  tell  you  some  stories  to  illustrate  how  we  act 
and  how  the  law  works.  First,  I  will  give  you  a  prose  rendering 
of  Schiller's  profound  poem,  Das  verschleierte  Bild  zu  Sa'is. 

A  young  Greek,  burning  with  thirst  for  knowledge,  came  to 
Sa'is  in  Egypt  to  study  with  the  priesthood  and  explore  the 
secrets  of  the  land  of  Komitu.  It  happened  one  day  that  the 
hie  repliant  brought  him  to  a  lonely  temple  where  the  youth 
beheld  a  veiled  statue,  of  which  the  high  priest  said:  "That 
is  Truth."  The  impulsive  student  at  once  demanded  to  know 
why  he  was  not  brought  here  before : 

"When  I  am  striving  after  Truth  alone, 
Seek'st  thou  to  hide  that  very  Truth  from  me?" 

" The  Godhead's  self  alone  can  answer  thee," 

Replied  the  hierophant,  "Let  no  rash  mortal 

Disturb  this  veil,"  said  he,  "till  raised  by  me.     .     .     ." 


SAIS  111 

The  boy  from  Hellas  could  not  understand  so  singular  a 
command.  There  was  Truth,  only  covered  with  a  thin  gauze, 
and  he  not  allowed  to  raise  it !  Inquisitively  he  asked  his  wise 
guide: 

"And  thou 
Hast  never  ventur'd,  then,  to  raise  the  vein" 
"  I  f    Truly  not !    I  never  even  felt 
The  least  desire."    " Is 't  possible?    If  I 
Were  sever  'd  from  the  Truth  by  nothing  else 

Than  this  thin  gauze "    "  And  a  divine  decree, ' ' 

His  guide  broke  in.    *  'Far  heavier  than  thou  think 'st 

Is  this  thin  gauze,  my  son.    Light  to  thy  hand 

It  may  be but  most  weighty  to  thy  conscience. 


> » 


An  insatiable  desire  consumed  the  youth.  At  night  he  could 
not  sleep.  In  the  day  he  sought  his  way  to  the  isolated  temple ; 
he  found  no  rest  anywhere. 

One  night  he  lost  control  of  himself  and  found  his  way  into 
the  temple.  Suddenly  he  stood  in  the  sanctuary  facing  the  veiled 
statue.  The  goddess  stood  before  him  more  mysteriously  than 
ever.  In  the  dim  moonlight,  which  fell  from  an  opening  above, 
he  gradually  approached  the  statue,  till  with  a  sudden  bound  he 
reached  it  with  the  cry : 

"Whate'er  is  hid  behind,  I'll  raise  the  veil." 
And  then  he  shouted :  ' '  Yes !    I  will  behold  it ! " 

"Behold  it!" 
Repeated  in  mocking  tone  the  distant  echo. 

He  spoke,  and  true  to  his  word  he  lifted  the  veil.  "What 
did  he  see?  Probably  nothing  but  the  statue  of  Isis.  He  was 
found  unconscious  next  morning  at  the  foot  of  the  statue.  To 
the  priests  he  only  said : 

"Woe  to  that  man  who  wins  the  Truth  by  guilt, 
For  Truth  so  gain'd  will  ne'er  reward  its  owner." 

This  young  Greek,  evidently  a  man  of  high  order,  was  per- 
fectly right  in  his  search  for  wisdom  and  in  going  for  it  to 
Egypt,  but  he  had  not  up  to  the  time  of  his  transgression  dis- 
covered that  the  main  lesson  in  all  temple  methods  and  for  him 


112  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

was  not  learning,  but  obedience.  He  was  an  embodiment  of 
self-assertion. 

Learning  brings  conflict  and  unrest,  because  it  keeps  us  on 
this  plane  of  life.  Obedience  to  our  Higher  Self  brings  that 
stillness  about  which  Qvang-zse  spoke,  and  of  which  you  read 
in  the  last  chapter,  a  stillness  in  which  Tao  holds  our  "spirit 
in  its  arms,"  a  stillness  which  gives  our  form  its  perfectness. 
Learning  is  all  very  well  for  its  purposes,  but  I  have  already  in 
another  chapter  told  you  how  little  mystics  care  for  it,  and 
told  you  that  learning  is  not  of  the  heart  or  will,  but  only  of 
the  brain,  and  therefore  not  the  method  that  produces  heart 
culture,  or,  which  is  the  same,  the  Inner  Life.  Only  heart 
can  teach  heart ;  only  will  can  control  will.  Intellect  and  learn- 
ing are  strangers  here  and  do  not  know  the  right  knock.  Spir- 
itual life  moves  on  a  curve  of  love,  not  on  a  straight  line  of 
logic,  and  the  magic  chain  that  binds  men  to  men  and  to 
Divinity,  is  forged  by  love  and  spirit.  If  this  young  man  had 
learned  obedience  and  lived  in  obedience  to  his  Higher  Self 
he  would  have  been  brought  into  that  stillness,  in  which  our 
grosser  self  burns  up ;  in  which  no  physical  instincts  are  aroused, 
and  no  sense  of  cupidity  stirred,  and  nothing  sways  our  selfish- 
ness ;  a  stillness  that  is  pure  white  flame  and  spiritual  tranquil- 
ity; a  stillness  which  Laotzse  (XVI)  says  "returns  us  to  the 
root"  or  origin  of  existence;  a  stillness  in  which  Isis  would 
have  raised  the  veil  according  to  promise  and  thereby  also 
lifted  his  longings  into  an  eternal  transmutation  and  bliss.  By 
practice  of  silence  and  solitude,  stillness  would  have  come.  That 
which  to  us  in  our  moral  and  spiritual  life  is  silence  and  soli- 
tude is,  in  the  cosmic  life,  called  stillness.  In  other  words,  silence 
and  solitude  are  subjective  conditions;  stillness  is  objective. 

What  a  difference  between  this  young  Greek  and  that  beg- 
gar I  have  told  you  about  in  a  former  chapter  and  whom  Tauler 
met.  This  young  Greek  is  an  awful  illustration  upon  "taking" 
before  time  has  come;  upon  "having  one's  own  will,"  upon  self- 
assertion,  and  thereby  coming  into  that  dreadful  conflict  I  spoke 
of  and  said  that  it  was  much  more  serious  than  any  conflict 
with  lust.  You  heard  from  his  own  mouth  how  little  he  knew 
of  non-action  (Wu-Wei)  or  Inner  Life,  and  you  heard  the  awful 
confession  of  the  dying  man.  What  application  dare  I  make 
as  regards  yourself?  I  dare  not  make  any,  but  I  may  ask  if  not 
in  some  such  way  some  of  you  may  have  brought  yourself  into 
a  suffering  that  now  tortures  you? 


THE  ILIAD  OP  THE  EAST  113 

But  the  break  may  be  only  intellectual,  as  it  is  with  many. 
People  simply  break  with  the  ideas  of  childhood,  instead  of  out- 
growing them  and  substitute  for  those  ideas  some  crude  and 
ill  understood  scientific  notions;  notions  that  contain  no  life- 
marrow  to  fill  their  bones  and  hence  leave  them  weak.  These 
people  are  ever  afterwards  incapable  of  anything  definite  and 
become  a  burden  to  themselves  and  others,  but  they  are  not 
sinners ;  they  are  only  in  confusion,  and  that  is  bad  enough. 

Some  one  will  now  say  that  if  we  let  this  great,  wonderful 
and  also  dangerous  power  alone,  we  would  be  better  off  and 
they  will  hypnotize  themselves  into  that  belief.  That,  too,  is 
false  and  I  will  demonstrate  it  by  another  story.  The  story  is 
called  "The  Love  of  Indra"  and  is  found  in  the  Ramayana. 
I  give  it  in  a  slightly  abridged  form  as  translated  by  Mrs. 
Frederika  Richardson  in  her  ' '  The  Iliad  of  the  East. ' '  This  is 
the  story : 

"There  were  some  young  maidens  standing  just  on  the 
threshold  of  life;  for  childhood  is  the  vestibule  merely;  it  is 
hung  with  pretty  pictures.  Just  at  this  point  paused  our  young 
maidens,  half  awed  by  the  tumult,  half  fascinated  by  all  the 
movement  and  the  light.  It  chanced  that  at  this  moment  the 
gaze  of  Indra  fell  on  them,  and  beholding  them,  so  beautiful 
and  so  pure,  he  loved  them.  Flashing  earthward,  in  a  form  of 
fire,  he  kissed  them  on  the  lips,  and  left  them  with  blanched 
cheeks,  and  eyes  aflame.  They  knew  a  god  had  been  with  them, 
and  thrilled  them  by  his  touch,  and  yet  had  winged  his  way 
back  to  his  High  Home  ere  they  had  tasted  aught  of  passion, 
save  its  first  sudden  pain.  So,  with  a  fever  on  them,  and  a 
vague  desire  in  their  innocent  breasts,  seeking  Whom  they  knew 
not,  What  they  could  not  say,  they  wandered  forth;  and  Love, 
who  breathes  only  in  the  upper  air,  led  them  to  a  Hilly  Country, 
where  the  large  stars  seemed  smiling  near.  And  there,  still  far 
beyond  them,  but  looking  down  with  deeply  passionate  eyes, 
they  saw  the  great  God,  Indra ;  and  he  held  out  his  large  arms, 
wooing  them  to  the  fire  of  his  embrace.  The  hearts  of  the 
young  maidens  failed  them.  Fain  had  each  been  to  turn  her 
back;  but  her  soul  within  of  a  sudden  found  its  wings,  and  bore 
her,  in  a  rush  of  superhuman  ecstasy,  to  the  arms  of  the  en- 
amoured God.  Thus,  ignorant  of  the  bitter  cost  to  mortals, 
who  press  up,  with  quivering  lips  and  heaving  breasts,  to  meet 
the  desire  of  the  Sons  of  Heaven,  did  they  receive  the  "sorrow- 
ful great  gift,"  the  Love  of  Indra.    Our  little  maidens,  having 


114  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

no  previous  knowledge  of  all  an  immortal's  love  involved,  fretted 
against  the  crown  Indra  had  laid  on  them;  because,  although  it 
wrapped  them  in  a  light,  it  scorched  and  tore  their  smooth  young 
brows,  and  mingled  with  its  beams  of  gold  the  lifeblood  of  the 
wearers.  'We  are  faint,'  they  said,  'and  weary!  The  bloom 
has  faded  from  our  cheeks,  and  all  the  youth  of  our  hearts  is 
dying!  Our  eyes  are  tired  with  beauty!  Tired — and  light  is 
but  a  splendid  pain.  Our  hearts  are  spent  with  passion,  this 
eternal  rapture  will  destroy  us.  Oh,  that  we  could  rest!  Rest 
— rest,  from  the  fever  of  our  lives,  ere  it  exhaust  our  power, 
and  we  die!'  So,  one  day  that  this  longing  for  rest  overcame 
them,  they  strayed  from  the  mountain  of  Meru,  where  the  Gods 
quaff  sparkling  nectar,  and  hearken  to  the  song  that  dies  not. 
"With  their  hands  to  their  ears  the  faithless  brides  of  Indra 
fled  from  the  witching  strains,  and  sought  the  sheltered  valleys, 
where  life  is  calm,  and  men  and  women  pass  slowly  through 
the  stages  of  time;  marking  progress  merely  by  the  succession 
of  season,  and  dying,  at  length,  because  they  have  dwelt  too 
long,  not  lived  too  much.  And  in  their  wanderings  they  came 
upon  the  country  of  the  Uttarakurus.  Oh,  that  was  a  pleasant 
land,  and  surely  just  the  spot  where  our  weary  fugitives  might 
find  the  peace  they  longed  for.  There  were  no  extremes  of 
heat  nor  cold,  no  excess  of  light  nor  depth  of  gloom;  all  was 
equable  and  tempered  calm,  like  the  inhabitants  themselves, 
whose  dispositions  were  inaccessible  to  all  violent  emotions, 
which  overstrain  a  delicate  frame.  There  was  no  need  for  any 
exertion  either;  for  in  a  wood,  hung  from  the  boughs  of  the 
trees  all  that  the  heart  could  desire;  jewels,  and  raiment,  and 
luxurious  couches,  and  delicious  viands  of  every  description; 
one  had  only  to  walk  thither  and  gather  them.  The  flowers  in 
this  country  were  of  gold,  so  were  the  mountains;  the  rivulets 
were  so  choked  up  with  gold  that  they  slept  between  their 
banks,  and  did  not  attempt  to  sing.  The  women  who  dwelt  there 
were  all  youthful  and  lovely;  the  men  were  all  courteous,  and 
learned  in  saying  pleasant  things;  old  age,  or  disease,  or  pov- 
erty, or  suffering,  or  grief,  were  not  known  here;  it  is  probable 
that  all  such  things  were  soaked  away  out  of  the  land  by  the 
black  and  terrible  river,  that  swept  with  its  sinister  floods  the 
borders  of  the  Land  of  Gold,  and  rolled,  muttering  ever  words 
of  menace  and  despair — that  were  not  understood  by  the  smiling 
Uttarakurus.  Amid  this  luxurious  people  the  pale  wanderers 
paused;  and,  struck  by  their  strange  beauty  and  their  wanness, 


THE  ILIAD  OF  THE  EAST  115 

born  of  an  ardor  unknown  to  any  here,  the  inhabitants  nocked 
around  them,  saying,  '  Stay  with  us  and  share  our  lives. '  Then, 
at  first,  a  pang  of  unsatisfied  longing  held  back  the  souls  where 
Indra  had  set  his  love.  But,  little  by  little,  each  sought  to  reason 
herself  out  of  the  memory  of  those  rapturous  moments  spent 
up  among  the  mountains.  'Help  me  to  live  it  down!'  cried 
out  each  weary  heart;  and  the  appealing  hands  went  forth, 
seeking  for  some  stay.  They  met  the  smooth  palms  of  the  bland 
Uttarakurus.  "Let  us  lead  you  along  the  path  of  pleasure," 
they  said  to  the  brides  of  Indra.  But  the  beloved  of  the  Sun- 
god  found  no  delight  in  the  golden  country,  nor  in  the  wood, 
nor  in  the  company  of  the  smiling  Uttarakurus.  "Better  to 
have  died  in  a  god's  embrace,"  they  moaned,  "than  to  crawl 
through  the  long  days  in  this  hateful  city. ' '  But  they  had  made 
their  choice;  and  Mahendra,  god  of  the  Firmament,  has  no 
welcome  for  renegades!  In  the  heart  of  the  Golden  Land  his 
curse  found  them  out.  'Have  ye  forgotten,'  he  cried  to  them, 
"how,  in  the  lone  Hill  Country,  ye  lay  awhile  on  my  breast, 
fainting  almost  with  rapture,  while  the  large  stars  were  smiling 
near,  and  the  night  hung,  still,  around  ?  Have  ye  forgotten  how, 
pale  and  beautiful,  ye  stepped  through  the  groves  of  Nandana; 
and  how  light  robed  ye  in  splendor;  and  the  stars  I  had  laid 
in  your  bosoms  glowed  there,  and  flamed  with  a  glory  that 
shamed  the  pale  orbs  of  heaven?  Why  have  ye  thrown  by  your 
crowns,  whose  gems  flashed  through  the  ages,  witnesses  to  the 
past  and  the  future  that  ye  were  chosen  as  the  spouses  of  Indra? 
What  though  your  slight  heads  were  bowed,  and  your  fragile 
strength  near  broken :  was  not  my  arm  around  you?  Who  would 
not  totter  and  fail,  to  be  upheld  by  the  amorous  Indra?  What 
though  your  spirits'  growth  were  too  swift  for  your  delicate 
frames?  As  guerdon  for  your  shortened  lives,  my  love  had 
made  ye  immortal.  But  ye  have  loved  ease  better  than  glory. 
0,  foolish  ones;  ease  can  never  be  yours.  Ye  have  tasted  an 
Immortal's  love.  And  your  glory  ye  have  abandoned.  Dwell, 
then,  as  Exiles  and  Strangers  in  this  town  ye  have  preferred 
to  the  mountains ;  and,  since  ye  have  dreaded  the  tempest,  endure 
the  torments  of  the  calm.' 

"And  so,  in  the  city  of  the  Uttarakurus,  dwell  these 
pale  women  with  the  lustrous  eyes,  who  were  once  the 
beloved  of  Indra;  and  they  hold  no  friendly  intercourse 
nor  have  sympathy  with  any;  each  morning  gives  fresh 
birth  to  the  wild  desire,  that  gnaws  their  hearts ;  each  night  finds 


116  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

them  in  a  dead  despair ;  for  the  pitiless  curse  of  Mahendra  drives 
them  down  to  their  unhonored  graves!" 

Here  again  it  is  self-assertion,  not  non-action  (Wu-Wei) 
that  creates  the  trouble.  These  girls  had  no  faith  and  yet  they 
were  in  the  presence  of  the  Great  Love.  Having  been  chosen 
by  Indra,  they  were  supposed  to  be  giant  spirits  and  able  to 
live  in  that  sphere  of  light  and  life,  which  is  Indra 's  domain. 
Had  they  been  common  girls,  their  faithlessness  would  not  have 
been  surprising  nor  their  punishment  so  severe.  They  should 
have  allowed  themselves  to  be  burned  up.  Indra's  stinging 
reproach  accuses  them  rightly  of  disobedience  to  their  call. 
Nature's  method  with  common  people  is  essentially  different 
from  Indra's.  Those  educated  by  nature  run  their  full  course 
before  they  discover  her  method  with  them.  For  such,  the  rule 
is  that  not  till  emotions  have  had  their  full  course  will  they 
rise  in  intellectual  light.  They  are  like  firebrands  which,  burn- 
ing without  flame,  are  merely  smoking  annoyances  and  not  lights. 
The  very  moment  an  emotion  rises  to  white  light  condition,  it 
becomes  the  savior  of  its  offer. 

Laotzse  says  apropos  (XL)  "Stillness  overcomes  heat." 
Surely  before  long  these  girls  would  have  discovered  what 
Laotzse  also  says:  (XXVI)  "Stillness  lies  back  of  all  motion." 
even  we,  without  being  called  by  Mahenda,  may  climb  a  mountain 
and  discover  that  stillness  is  there  and  not  in  the  valley.  How 
much  more  those  girls,  so  favored!  Take  the  story  literally  or 
symbolically;  either  way  it  is  full  of  lessons  on  my  subject  of 
the  inner  conflicts  of  the  Ego.  Everywhere  it  is  action,  actions, 
and  again  actions  of  our  own,  namely,  on  the  plane  of  this  life, 
that  cause  our  diremptions,  that  split  our  personality  in  two, 
that  breaks  off  our  harmony  with  our  Higher  Self.  If  we  let 
the  Higher  Self  in  us  act,  this  will  not  happen.  If  we  let  our 
Higher  Self  act,  we  shall  be  in  stillness  and  Tao  will  take  our 
"spirit  in  its  arms." 

Do  not  misimderstand  this  point  on  non-action,  Wu-Wei. 
The  meaning  is  not  the  idea  involved  in  the  washerwoman's 
hope.    Have  you  heard  of  her, 

Who  always  was  tired, 

Who  lived  in  a  house  where  no  help  was  hired. 

And  whose  last  words  on  earth  were : 

Dear  friends,  I  am  going 

Where  no  sweeping  ain't  done,  nor  churning  nor  sewing, 


STILLNESS  117 

And  everything  there  will  be  just  to  my  wishes, 

For  there  they  don't  eat,  and  there's  no  washing  of  dishes; 

And  though  anthems  are  constantly  ringing, 

I,  having  no  voice,  will  get  rid  of  the  singing. 

Don't  mourn  for  me  now,  and  don't  mourn  for  me  ever, 

For  I  'm  going  to  do  nothing  for  ever  and  ever. ' ' 

This  is  not  what  Inner-Life  people  understand  by  "  Non- 
action" or  ''Stillness."  They  mean  by  Non-action,  Wu-Wei, 
the  withdrawing  from  all  this  world's  interests  and  activities, 
all  of  which  lie  on  a  plane  of  life  they  do  not  want  to  have 
anything  to  do  with,  because  their  longings  are  not  satisfied 
with  such  interests  or  activties.  Their  hearts  pant  for  the 
Living  God,  as  does  the  deer  for  the  water  brook.  The  Inner- 
Life  people  seek  stillness  or  such  a  condition  beyond  the  senses, 
where  no  noise  or  sound  heard  by  the  senses  is  possible,  a  still- 
ness which  is  the  kernel  and  core  of  the  cosmos. 

In  my  first  illustration  I  had  a  man  and  his  intellect  in  the 
centre.  In  this  second  story  which  you  have  just  heard  I  had 
woman  and  her  emotions  in  the  center.  They  both  fell  because 
they  said  No!  to  obedience  or  the  law  of  their  life.  The  man's 
law  of  life  is  intellectual,  and  in  due  course  of  time  his  life 
swings  around  to  its  opposite:  emotion,  and  the  two  complete 
him.  The  woman's  law  of  life  is  emotion,  and  in  due  course  of 
time  her  life  swings  around  to  its  opposite,  intellect ;  and  the 
two  complete  her.  This  is  the  normal  evolution.  But  when  the 
breaks,  the  splits,  the  diremptions  occur,  an  abnormal  condition 
sets  in  and  as  my  stories  told,  the  results  are  frightful. 

Would  we  be  better  off  if  we  did  not  make  use  of  that  tre- 
mendous power  of  ours?  Perhaps  we  would  not  suffer  then? 
That  also  would  be  a  mistake  and  I  will  show  it  by  a  story  of 
my  own,  modeled  on  a  few  elements  I  have  borrowed  from  the 
Hungarian.  I  have  named  my  story  "The  Copyist."  It  runs 
as  follows : 

Our  friend  is  a  copyist  in  a  government  office.  Like  every- 
body else,  he  wanted  to  go  to  a  certain  masquerade,  but  unlike 
everybody  else  that  went,  he  had  nothing  wherewith  to  buy  a 
costume.  He  had  an  idea.  He  sold  himself  to  a  Jew  to  carry 
advertisements  through  the  halls  and  ball  rooms.  And  so,  fitted 
out  in  a  gorgeous  dress,  full  of  announcements,  he  partook  in 
the  revel — after  a  fashion. 


118  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Soon  he  found  himself  the  target  for  all  the  wit,  good 
humor  and  ill  will  of  the  assembly.  Poor  devil,  he  stood  it  for 
a  while ;  but  soon,  too  soon  for  him,  he  found  out  what  it  is  to 
sell  oneself  for  mercenary  purposes,  even  though  one  might  see 
the  masquerade  of  life.  Behind  every  masque,  it  appeared  to 
him,  a  pair  of  eyes  followed  him.  The  advertisements  sewed 
into  his  costume  seemed  to  burn  like  hot  coals,  and  excited  his 
highly  overwrought  nerve-system  and  completely  prostrated 
him;  his  throat  seemed  to  be  on  fire;  his  eyes  grew  inflamed 
and  unsteady.  He  began  to  feel  as  though  he  were  about  to  be 
attacked  with  brain  fever. 

At  last  he  managed  to  find  his  way  out  from  the  hilarious 
crowd,  and  got  into  a  distant  cabinet,  to  an  alcove  turned  into  a 
kind  of  flower-grove  by  greenery  and  sweet-smelling  flowers. 
The  light  was  reflected  by  transparent  needles,  like  stalactites, 
hanging  from  the  ceiling,  and  it  fell  brightly  upon  a  basin  filled 
with  fish  of  brilliant  colors.  The  soft  murmuring  of  a  little 
fountain  readily  put  him  into  a  state  of  trance,  and  he  dreamed. 
A  large  leaf  fanned  gently  his  fever-hot  forehead,  but  only 
gloomy  thoughts  would  rise  in  his  sick  brain.  Ah,  yonder  they 
amused  themselves  and  were  almost  lost  in  the  whirl  of  pas- 
sionate enjoyment.  But  here  was  he,  not  only  hungry  and 
exhausted  both  mentally  and  physically — not  so  much,  however, 
from  the  past  few  moments  of  excitement — nay,  back  of  this 
hour  lay  years  and  years  of  unmanly  indulgences,  and  recol- 
lections now  arose  in  his  mind,  none  of  which  could  infuse  any 
self-respect  into  his  weak  heart,  or  bring  fresh  thoughts  to  his 
withered  soul.  Poor  fellow,  only  once,  this  one  time,  had  he 
tried  to  gain  admission  to  what  appeared  as  the  ideal  brightness 
of  life,  in  which  so  many  seemed  to  live  and  enjoy  themselves, 
and  here  was  he,  an  outcast.  Dimly  he  saw  it;  he  had  gained 
admission  as  an  uncalled  one,  and  by  dishonorable  means !  Every- 
one could  see  it,  every  piece  of  his  costume  bore  the  advertise- 
ments of  the  Jew,  Abraham  Trailles,  No.  32  Fools  lane.  What 
was  there  to  do  but  to  return  to  the  meanness  and  low  life  where 
he  belonged  and  for  a  few  years  more  drag  himself  along  to 
an  unhonored  grave. 

Suddenly  he  felt  himself  touched  upon  the  shoulder.  Half 
sleeping,  half  beside  himself,  he  looked  up,  and  beheld :  on  the 
large  leaf  over  his  head  he  saw  a  beautiful  woman,  sweet  as  a 
sylph,  slender  and  tiny,  but  gracefully  strong,  and  in  a  dress  of 
pure,  fine  linen.    He  noticed  particularly  a  large  fan  in  her  hand. 


LOSS  OF  SELF  119 

A  pink  masque  covered  the  upper  part  of  her  face  and  left 
uncovered  a  mouth  of  exquisite  forms  and  lines.  She  seemed 
a  fay  indeed.  He  gazed  upon  her  with  admiration  and  attraction, 
and  asked  gently:  "Who  art  thou,  sweet  maiden ?"  "Dost  thou 
not  know  me!"  she  replied,  and  removed  the  masque.  It  seemed 
to  him  he  had  seen  that  brow  before ;  those  eyes  and  their  dreamy 
looks.  Had  he  not  often  unconsciously  thrown  his  mind  into 
the  mystic  realms  of  the  ideal  world  and  there  beheld  this  ideal 
of  woman :  His  own  personal  self.  Now  she  was  near  him,  so 
near  that  he  might  clasp  her  in  his  arms.  "Dost  thou  know 
me  now?  I  played  with  thee  when  thou  wast  little  and  sung 
songs  for  thee.  Surely  thou  canst  not  have  forgotten  it.  But 
where  didst  thou  go  to  f  Thou  keptest  thyself  in  the  house  while 
I  picked  flowers  in  the  meadows  and  gathered  green  leaves  in 
the  forest  or  watched  the  cuckoo,  or  listened  to  the  songsters 
in  the  trees.  Where  wast  thou  while  I  sat  by  the  brook  and  the 
lark  hung  in  the  air  overhead,  ringing  out  its  peals  of  joy  over 
life?    Where  wast  thou  in  the  time  of  thy  youth?" 

"Eight  hours  of  the  day  I  spent  in  the  schoolroom  and  under 
the  whip  of  the  schoolmaster. ' ' 

"Dost  thou  remember  the  day  when  they  sent  thee  out  into 
the  wide,  wide  world?  Dost  thou  remember  that  I  followed 
thee  and  spoke  to  thee  of  trusting  in  me,  and  I  would  keep  thee 
and  preserve  thee?  But  thou  didst  forget  me  when  thou  earnest 
to  the  gay  capital.  Thou  didst  lose  thyself  among  the  many 
people  and  their  vanities!  I  sought  thee  at  thy  revels  and  in 
thy  garret,  but  thou  didst  not  know  me.  When  thou  lookedst 
upon  the  beautiful  women,  I  stood  before  thee,  but  thou  didst 
prefer  flesh  and  blood  to  soul.  Never,  never  didst  thou  come 
to  me!" 

"What  didst  thou  do  when  thou  wast  young  and  gay  no 
more,  when  thou  wast  poor  and  miserable,  when  thou  hadst 
become  a  ruin  to  thyself?" 

"I  worked;  I  worked;  I  tried  to  save  myself.  Ten  hours  a 
day  I  copied  in  the  office,  and  at  home  I  copied — I  copied 
always ! ' ' 

"And  now.    What  dost  thou  do  now?" 

"I  copy  still!" 

"And,  in  the  future,  what  wilst  thou  do?" 

Our  friend,  the  copyist,  was  fairly  startled  by  that  question, 
and  humiliated,  too,  for  he  had  nothing  to  answer  but  to  say — 
"To  copy,  still!"    He  burst  into  tears;  he  cried  the  hot  tears 


]20  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

of  remorse.  But  suddenly,  as  if  in  a  fit  of  over-natural  energy, 
he  opened  bis  arms  and  tremblingly  exclaimed,  "I  will  love 
thee,  I  will  embrace  thee,  I  will  own  thee."  Then  it  happened 
that  the  maiden's  fan  opened  wide  and  covered  her  face;  and 
lo!  he  beheld  smiling  landscapes,  youth  in  its  native  richness 
and  with  its  prophecy  of  love,  and  the  thousand  forms  of  life's 
beauty  and  charm,  all  in  harmonious  forms  and  living  colors. 
The  vision  revivified  him,  and  forgetting  himself  and  his  de- 
graded position,  like  another  Faust,  he  rushed  out  to  embrace 
this  sweet  genius,  that  held  the  pictures  in  her  hand,  the  lady 
who  so  charmed  him. 

A  gentle  stroke  brought  him  to  his  senses. 

"Stop,  my  dear  Mr.  Copyist!  To  love  me!  To  embrace 
me!  To  own  me!  I  fear  thou  art  too  old!  We  have  grown 
apart !  Thou  are  no  more  young  and  strong ;  thy  hair  has  turned 
gray  and  thin;  thine  eyes  are  no  more  lustrous  and  thy  soul  is 
withered,  thy  spirit  darkened!  Thou  art  no  more  fit  for  love. 
Know  this,  that  I,  thy  soul,  thy  youth,  thy  personal  being,  thy 
Self  is  no  reality,  for  thou  hast  not  given  me  life;  I  am,  and 
must  remain  to  thee  a  dream,  a  phantom.  Thou  hast  lost  me, 
though  thou  never  didst  possess  me!" 

She  disappeared. 

Like  a  madman  he  rushed  into  the  ballroom  to  catch  her. 
He  set  everything  in  confusion  and  drove  every  one  aside 
and  frightened  all.    He  was  mad. 

Next  day  an  old  doctor  stood  leaning  over  a  dying  man  in 
the  hospital  of  the  poorhouse.  The  dying  man  was  unknown  to 
all  around  him.  Just  before  he  died  he  was  heard  to  say,  "I 
lost  what  I  never  possessed ! ' ' 

Commentary  is  hardly  necessary.  The  story  explains  itself. 
A  copy  of  that  man  can  be  seen  all  around  us.  Business  life 
grinds  a  man  into  the  dust  of  indifference,  and,  as  if  to  make 
his  misery  so  much  greater,  life  gives  the  flickering  taper  a 
whiff  of  fresh  air  in  the  last  moment,  and  the  darkness  seems 
so  much  greater.  This  copyist  is  a  warning  example  on  not 
to  bury  one's  gifts  in  business,  that  may  overwhelm,  or  in  the 
soil,  where  they  may  rust.  We  have  our  gifts  for  use — but  not 
for  abuse.  It  must  not  be  overlooked  or  ignored  that  all  of 
these  three  persons  mentioned  are  people  of  higher  orders.  They 
are  of  that  class  which  life  or  nature  invites  to  the  university 
method  called  heavenliness.    Thev  are  not  of  those  for  whom  a 


NATURE  AS  AN  EDUCATOR  121 

common  school  method  of  earthliness  is  enough,  because  they  are 
not  yet  ready  to  quit  earth. 

Nature  has  two  methods  by  which  she  educates  us.  The 
one,  the  common  school  method  of  earthliness,  is  applied  first 
and  to  all,  and  consists  mainly  in  learning  to  overcome  lusts 
of  all  kinds,  and  in  awakening  the  soul.  When  the  pupil  has 
attained  some  practice  in  overcoming  lusts  and  begins  to  see 
beyond  his  own  notions,  the  other  is  offered,  not  applied.  There 
is  a  vast  difference  here.  The  first  method  is  applied  because 
it  contains  a  great  deal  of  compulsion.  In  all  our  earlier  stages 
of  awakening  we  are  not  voluntarily  active;  we  learn  only  be- 
cause we  must.  You  hear  that  frequently  from  people.  They 
tell  you  that  life  has  made  them  do  so,  and  forced  them  to 
believe  so  and  so.  Such  expressions  clearly  show  that  their 
progress  has  not  been  one  conducted  by  inner  love  and  high 
aspiration,  but  has  been  a  result  of  necessity. 

The  other  method,  the  one  I  have  called  the  university 
method  of  heavenliness,  is  offered  to  those  who  desire  it,  not  to 
those  who  yet  see  no  need  of  it.  Only  those  desire  this  method 
who  discover  for  themselves  that  there  is  such  a  method  and 
who  not  only  can  see  that  the  present  world  is  vanity,  but  whose 
inner  need  craves  for  the  Higher,  no  matter  whatever  the  cost. 

I  look  upon  the  three  persons  I  have  used  as  illustrations 
as  three  persons  who  had  come  near  enough  to  call  for  the 
higher  method.    Hence  it  was  offered,  but — they  failed ! 

Now,  to  come  back  to  what  I  said  in  the  beginning  of  the 
chapter,  about  the  breaks,  the  splits,  the  diremption  you  may 
have  experienced.  Like  these  three  persons,  you  rose  in  mo- 
ments beyond  yourself  both  in  light  and  love  and  you  demanded 
higher  light  and  profounder  love.  When  they  were  not  forth- 
coming, you  stretched  out  your  hand  to  take  "the  Kingdom  of 
God"  by  force  like  that  young  Greek,  or  you  gave  up  and  ran 
away  from  the  greater  love  offered,  like  those  girls  of  Indra, 
or  you  wasted  your  resources  in  false  loves  and  dissipations  like 
the  copyist  and  as  only  too  many  do,  who  believe  themselves 
geniuses  before  they  are  out  of  the  mind's  swaddling  clothes. 
The  hope  these  three  had  for  stillness  or  for  a  world  that  can- 
not be  moved  was  not  based  upon  obedience  to  their  Higher 
Self,  but  was  simply  momentary  fancy.  Hence  the  failure  and 
suffering,  when  the  higher  method  of  heavenliness  was  offered 
them. 

Beware!     Ask  not  of  Spirit   to  be  trained!     Learn  first 


122  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

the  principles  of  obedience  to  higher  Self;  first  then  will  the 
revelation  of  those  principles  of  form,  law,  order  and  truth  be  a 
blessing. 

Beware,  when  the  test  comes !  Do  not  act  before  the  right 
moment,  when  Isis  raises  the  veil !  Do  not  fear  the  great  love  1 
Do  not  ignore  the  repeated  calls!  Beware,  when  the  critical 
moment  comes ! 

In  spite  of  all  dangers,  we  must  develop  that  thought-form 
or  those  principles  I  called  form,  law,  order,  truth.  We  must 
develop  them ;  if  we  do  not,  we  never  come  to  conscious  posses- 
sion of  ourselves,  or  of  those  principles  which  are  offered  so 
freely  to  us  in  this  cycle ;  and  not  coming  to  conscious  possession 
of  ourselves  or  of  those  principles  is  a  calamity  I  cannot  find 
word  for.  It  means  the  loss  of  the  thousands  of  years  of  this 
our  cycle — a  loss  which  perhaps  to  those  ignorant  of  the  nature 
of  the  loss  means  little,  but  which  to  those  who  have  even  a 
slight  idea  of  the  value  of  such  time  is  an  irreparable  loss — 
who  knows  if  there  ever  be  another  opportunity?    Who  knows! 

Without  swinging  out  into  the  immensity  of  space  and  the 
thousands  of  years,  think  only  of  the  poor  copyist  and  his  fate. 
How  can  he  repair  his  loss  of  that  which  he  really  never  pos- 
sessed ?  There  is  no  psychological  ground  in  him  on  which  he  can 
work  and  where  is  it  to  come  from  in  the  future?  We  cannot 
imagine  his  salvation,  his  restoration,  on  any  rational  basis. 

I  am  now  where  I  leave  the  subject  of  this  chapter  for  the 
present.  I  shall  continue  it  in  next  chapter  and  hope  to  finish 
it.  But  I  have  yet  something  to  say  to  you.  Does  it  not  appear 
to  you  that  those  of  us  who  have  some  idea  of  these  important 
subjects  ought  to  go  out  into  the  world  and  preach  to  our  fol- 
low men  "to  make  up"  before  it  is  too  late?  Who  will  serve  in 
this  ministry?    We  will  enroll  you  this  day! 

Ought  we  not  to  get  out  as  missionaries  to  tell  our  fellow- 
men  what  treasures  the  Inner  Life  offers  and  offers  for  nothing, 
if  we  but  will  let  go  all  kinds  of  entanglements  with  "this" 
world,  a  world  with  which  we  really  have  nothing  to  do.  Our 
home  is  not  here !    It  is  yonder ! 

Ought  we  not  also  tell  our  fellow  men  that  in  as  much  as 
they  live  in  this  cycle,  they  have  the  benefit  of  all  its  characteris- 
tics, even  that  mighty  power  of  thought-forms  I  have  spoken 
of,  but  that  they  bring  curses  upon  themselves  by  misuse  of 
that  power?  And  should  we  not  show  them  that  they  are  in  a 
bad  way  and  that  the  world  at  large  lies  in  suffering,  because 


THE  UNIVERSAL  MINISTRY  123 

that  great  power  has  been  misused?     Ought  we  not  preach 
obedience  t 

There  is  no  need  of  an  ordination  or  commission  from  some- 
body else.  The  witness  of  the  Higher  Self  within  is  both  call 
and  ordination.  We  are  all  in  a  Universal  Ministry,  as  many 
as  have  understood  the  motions  of  the  Higher  Self. 


NATURE  WORSHIP 
VIII. 

I  TAKE  up  the  thread  where  I  left  it  in  the  last  chapter  and 
will  now  speak  about  Stillness  as  Nature's  essential  life.  I 
maintain  that  had   those  three   persons — the   Greek — the 

maidens — the  copyist — remained  self-contained,  they  would 
have  discovered  how  nature's  stillness  embraced  them  and  they 
would  not  have  fallen  so  deep  as  they  did.  I  shall  now,  as  I  have 
done  in  all  the  foregone  chapters,  point  to  Nature  as  our  mother, 
our  monitor,  our  educator  and  trainer  in  the  Inner  Life.  To 
prevent  misunderstandings,  I  repeat  what  I  have  said  several 
times  before:  nature  is  spirit  visible,  or  which  is  the  same,  the 
only  form  under  which  we  can  see  spirit  in  activity  is  in  nature 
(and  in  man,  of  course,  but  for  the  present  I  leave  man  out  and 
consider  nature,  the  greater  of  the  two). 

Ever  since  the  time  of  the  Gnostics  we  meet  in  the  ancient 
writings  witli  testimonies  about  Sophia,  Heavenly  Wisdom,  that 
came  in  personal  form  to  those  who  lived  the  Inner  Life,  and 
even  in  our  own  day  there  are  people  living  who  have  received 
visits  of  Sophia.  She  is  Deity  revealed  in  nature,  and,  is  de- 
scribed variously  in  all  holy  books,  but  always  as  man's  best 
friend  and  companion  and  his  example.  I  say,  therefore,  Nature 
is  Sophia  and  Sophia  is  Nature. 

I  may  well  appropriate  as  my  own  the  following  lines : 

"There  are  Three  Testaments  which  show 
What  God  both  is  and  does ; 
And  he  who  well  the  first  would  know 

The  second  must  peruse ; 
Nor  will  he  in  the  second  speed, 
Unless  the  third  he  rightly  read." 

The  three  testaments,  or  which  are  the  same  witnesses  in  the 
world,  are  God — Man — Nature.  He  who  would  know  God,  must 


NATURE-WORSHIP  125 

know  man ;  but  to  know  man,  one  must  read  nature  carefully.  I 
think  these  lines  justify  the  eminent  place  I  give  nature  for  the 
present  and  in  these  chapters  on  the  Inner  Life  in  connection 
with  the  Tao-Teh-King. 

Of  the  thousands  of  examples  that  could  be  given,  I  will 
mention  only  one  upon  her  teachings,  one  to  show  how  she  can 
and  does  teach  us  to  worship,  and,  worship  I  call  the  highest 
expression  for  our  spiritual  life.  I  call  it  the  highest  expression, 
because  worship  gives  movement,  unity,  and  system  to  our  life 
and  actions.  You  must  understand  I  am  talking  about  "worth- 
scipe, ' '  the  old  Saxon  form.  That  word  means  value,  apprecia- 
tion. Nature  is  teaching  us  to  value  life,  to  rejoice  in  God's  gifts. 
She  has  not  prepared  for  our  use  any  liturgy  of  canned  flat- 
teries or  strings  of  petitions,  nor  does  she  lay  down  the  law  for 
the  Deity  what  to  do  for  us.  Such  unworthy  acts  are  not  hers. 
She  is  neither  browbeating  Deity  nor  shaking  us  with  fears. 
She  gives  us  an  example  and  pattern  for  life  and  happiness,  and 
rejoices  in  the  value,  the  worth  of  life.  And  that  is  worship,  acts 
worthy  the  Deity  and  for  our  upbuilding. 

Do  not  tell  me  when  I  shall  have  read  Whittier's  poem,  en- 
titled "Nature's  Worship,"  that  the  poet  has  simply  personified 
some  of  nature's  actions  and  read  into  them  something  very 
characteristic.  Do  not  say  that,  for  you  have  against  you  the 
great  multitude  of  scholars  who  know  about  these  things,  and 
you  reveal  your  own  poverty  as  regards  Inner-Life  experiences. 
Man  learned  his  method  of  worship  from  nature;  it  did  not 
spring  from  out  his  own  mind.  As  regards  worship  (worth- 
ship),  as  in  all  other  fields,  order  or  method  came  first  and  ex- 
isted before  man  found  a  name  for  it.  Our  definitions  come  long 
after  we  have  discovered  the  facts  in  nature.  At  this  day  we 
know  of  numerous  facts  and  ways  of  nature,  but  we  have  no 
name  for  them.  Our  thought-form  system  is  but  of  recent  date 
as  I  told  you  in  the  last  chapter.  Man's  heart  craved  for  ex- 
pressions, and  as  he  felt  the  power  of  such  actions,  attitudes  and 
motions  of  nature  which  Whittier  describes,  he  imitated  them, 
and  he  does  likewise  to  this  day,  when  he  comes  down  to  the 
bottom  of  his  heart,  and  until  he  does  it,  he  never  attains  full 
God-wisdom  nor  the  practice  thereof,  call  it  religion  or  anything 
else.  Such  acts  follow  and  are  identical  with  the  second  birth. 
Did  not  the  real  great  prophets  live  in  the  open?  Yes,  all  of 
them!  Those  that  came  from  monastic  cells,  were  not  of  the  first 
class.  Wonderful  as  Tauler  was,  I  have  this  against  him,  that 


126  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

he  pulled  the  cap  down  over  his  eyes,  that  the  flowers  should 
not  disturb  his  meditations.  Buddha  took  the  text  for  his  first 
sermon  from  a  fire  in  the  woods  across  the  river  where  he  was 
sitting.  As  for  Jesus,  you  know  how  his  parables  abound  in 
nature-life;  how  he  preached  from  a  boat,  loved  mountains  and 
always  traveled  in  the  Open.  And  Laotzse  either  starts  with  a 
nature-symbol  or  ends  with  one.  You  shall  hear  enough  about 
that  as  I  proceed  with  my  chapters.  I  repeat  it,  the  great  mas- 
ters live  and  have  always  lived  in  the  Open,  and  that  is  why  they 
and  we  have  a  common  ground  to  meet  on.  I  say  we  and  mean 
those  who  associate  with  the  spirit  abroad.  Examine  into  this 
and  you  will  see  it  for  yourself. 

By  nature  the  superficial  observer  understands  all  the  tan- 
gible manifoldness  that  impinges  upon  his  senses,  and  that 
manifoldness  only.  But  that  manifoldness  is  only  the  fringe  of 
that  manicolored  carpet  which  the  great  mother  has  spread  out 
for  us  to  walk  upon.  She  herself  is  nature  in  a  different  sense, 
namely,  she  is  the  weaver  of  that  carpet  and  those  fringes.  She 
is  both  object  and  subject,  both  doer  and  the  deed.  And  she  is 
as  personal  as  you  and  I;  and  that  is  why  we  can  have  company 
with  her.  When  we  call  her  mother  we  are  not  merely  indulging 
in  personalities,  we  are  speaking  as  does  heart  to  heart.  That 
many  cannot  understand  this,  condemns  them  and  proves  most 
conclusively  that  they  are  not  on  the  path.  Nature  has  woven 
symbols  of  the  most  varied  designs  into  this  carpet,  but  they  all 
lead  us  to  the  solitary  roads,  where  she  is  ready  to  meet  us. 
These  solitary  roads  may  look  like  green  meadows  or  barren 
mountain  tops,  like  woodlands  or  deserts,  like  the  open  ocean  or 
the  still  lake.  Whatever  they  look  like  or  whatever  we  call  them, 
she  has  provided  them  for  our  sake  that  we  may  meet  her  in 
seclusion  and  solitude  and  have  a  heart  to  heart  talk.  It  is  not 
true  that  she  is  indifferent  to  the  individual,  caring  only  for  the 
race.  Nature  never  falls  into  those  terrible  disturbances  which 
we  human  creatures  fall  into  because  we  will  not  learn  the  prin- 
ciple of  non-action.  Nature  is  beyond  such  a  conflict,  to  say  the 
least. 

Will  you  please  notice,  how  intensely  active  nature  is  in  the 
illustration  I  shall  give,  and  yet  how  quiet,  how  still,  how  su- 
blimely "non-active"  she  is.  Nature  is  always  double,  not  to 
say  multiple,  in  all  her  doings.  Outwardly  she  seems  to  be  bent 
upon  boating  her  own  record  for  multiple  productions,  but  her 
real  doings  lie  behind  the  array  of  facts  which  is  the  all  so  many 


NATURE- WORSHIP  127 

of  us  only  see.  Nature  in  these  "real  doings,"  which  are  voli- 
tional, always  points  beyond  herself  and  therefore  she  is  our 
example.  I  shall  read  to  you  Whittier's  only  too  little  known 
and  less  understood  poem:  "The  Worship  of  Nature."  Please 
notice  that  she  acts  like  a  human  person. 

"The  harp  at  Nature's  advent  strung 
Has  never  ceased  to  play ; 
The  songs  the  stars  of  morning  sung 
Have  never  died  away. 

And  prayer  is  made,  and  prayer  is  given, 

By  all  things  near  and  far; 
The  Ocean  looketh  up  to  heaven, 

And  mirrors  every  star. 

Its  waves  are  kneeling  on  the  strand, 

As  kneels  the  human  knee, 
Their  white  locks  bowing  to  the  sand, 

The  priesthood  of  the  sea ! 

They  pour  their  glittering  treasure  forth, 

Their  gifts  of  pearl  they  bring, 
And  all  the  listening  hills  of  earth 

Take  up  the  song  they  sing. 

The  green  earth  sends  her  incense  up 

From  many  a  mountain  shrine ; 
From  folded  leaf  and  dewy  cup 

She  pours  her  sacred  wine. 

The  mists  above  the  morning  rills 

Rise  white  as  wings  of  prayer; 
The  altar-curtains  of  the  hills 

Are  sunset's  purple  air. 

The  winds  with  hymn-  of  praise  are  loud, 

Or  low  with  sobs  of  pain, — 
The  thunder-organ  of  the  cloud 

The  dropping  tear1-  of  rain. 


128  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

With  drooping  head  and  branches  crossed 

The  twilight  forest  grieves, 
Or  speaks  with  tongues  of  Pentecost 

From  all  its  sunlit  leaves. 

The  blue  sky  is  the  temple's  arch, 

Its  transept  earth  and  air, 
The  music  of  its  starry  march 

The  chorus  of  a  prayer. 

So  Nature  keeps  the  reverent  frame 

With  which  her  years  began, 
And  all  her  signs  and  voices  shame 

The  prayerless  heart  of  Man." 

This  ought  to  shame  most  people;  it  shows  how  nature  is 
stillness,  or  in  that  essential  condition  so  highly  praised  by  all 
mystics  and  so  intensely  sought  for.  This  shows  how  nature 
is  in  the.  condition  of  the  sage,  such  as  you  have  heard  Laotzse 
define  him,  as  the  one  who  "acts  non-action;"  the  one  whose 
work  is  always  on  the  plane  above  this  and  yet  whose  effects 
are  visible  on  this  plane.  Nature  is  the  one  who  is  not  hasty 
with  the  hand,  like  that  young  Greek,  and  not  afraid  of  losing  the 
bodily  life,  like  those  girl  loves  of  Indra,  and,  not  indifferently 
wasting  the  measures  of  time  and  at  last  finding  that  that  was 
lost  which  was  never  really  possessed.  Nature  is  in  no  such  con- 
flict. Neither  is  the  sage.  Nay,  the  sage  is  he  who  lives  in  sim- 
plicity, such  as  you  have  heard  me  describe  it  from  the  Tao-Teh- 
King,  and,  simplicity  and  stillness  are  synonymous  terms. — 

The  harp  at  Nature's  advent  strung 

Has  never  ceased  to  play. 
The  songs  the  stars  of  morning  sung 

Have  never  died  away. 

Indeed,  nature  sings,  and  "there  is  always  a  song,  my  dear, 
somewhere,"  as  the  Iloosier  poet  told  us.  B\rt  he  did  not  tell 
us  what  the  song  was  about  and  failed  to  interpret  her  notes. 
Another  has  done  it.  I  have  heard  it  from  another  poet,  Chr. 
Fr.  K.  Molbeck,  a  poet  far  away  and  in  the  Vikings-land,  whence 
some  would  least  of  all  expect  to  hear  a  translation  of  nature's 
call.  That  poet  interprets  the  song  to  be  a  call  to  us  to  be  still. 
Here  it  is  in  prose,  as  best  I  can  translate  it : 


NATURE-WOHSHIP  129 

"Oh,  man,  thou  who  like  the  wild  wind  rushes  over  earth 
and  ne'er  throws  the  lead  to  the  bottom  of  thy  breast;  thou,  who 
would  fathom  life,  but  forget  its  source:  seek  for  once  thyself 
and  God — but  still!  End  this  wild  rush,  this  restless  sighing! 
Put  the  ear  to  thine  own  breast,  where  thy  soul  is  in  prison ! 

"Dam-up  and  seal  the  flood  of  thy  lusts;  seek  then  thy- 
self in  the  depths  of  thy  bosom — but  still ! 

"Stop  this  hurry  and  haste  from  one  door  of  life  to  an- 
other. In  this  noise,  how  can  thou  expect  God's  voice  to  hear,  or 
thine  own ;  neither  of  them  come  like  thunder  storms ;  they  visit 
the  heart  like  gentle  winds — and  still ! 

"Ye  generation  of  men,  full  of  evil  and  hatred,  rushing 
through  the  world  with  tongue  cursing  and  murmuring,  what  is 
thy  goal  ?  What  seekest  thou  in  the  tumult  ?  Behold  the  flower 
grows  towards  heaven — and  still ! 

"Hear,  everywhere  in  field  and  meadow,  a  prayer  for  still- 
ness is  lifted  up.  Even  midday's  golden  mouth  bids  stillness  in 
the  woods.  The  stars  along  the  coasts  of  heaven,  playing  silver 
harps,  bid  thee  be  still!" 

"Be  still"  is  the  refrain  "of  the  song  that  is  always,  my 
dear,  somewhere."  Be  still!  is  nature's  call,  because  stillness  is 
her  innermost,  her  mystery!  Stillness  is  Nature's  Truth  and 
Beauty!  Nature  never  says  a  word  about  Truth,  but  with  in- 
finite patience  and  in  stillness  she  forces  us  to  hear  it.  She  has 
time  to  wait. 

Nature  never  sings  her  own  praise ;  but  to  all,  she  is  good- 
ness, especially  to  those  who  will  quietly  sit  down  at  her  table 
and  take  her  bounties.  She  does  it  in  stillness.  Beauty  is  her 
wayside  sacrament  administered  in  every  flower,  and,  she  goes 
about  spreading  beauty  everywhere  and  does  it  in  stillness  and 
without  ostentation.  Beauty  is  her  hallmark  and  you  find  it  even 
in  the  dust  on  the  flower  by  the  highroad.  In  spite  of  man's 
heedless  conduct  the  dust  falls  harmoniously.  In  her  workshop 
she  is  ever  building,  but  in  stillness  she  plans.  On  the  stage  of 
life,  we  see  the  players  come  and  go,  but  never  herself;  she 
stands  still  in  one  of  the  wings.  She  makes  us  talk,  but  she  her- 
self has  no  speech  or  language;  she  is  stillness.    In  short: 

"Forward,"  is  the  mad  cry  of  the  world! 

"Homeward"  is  the  gentle  sigli  of  the  heart  and  Nature ! 

"Homeward  is  the  meaning  and  the  aim  and  end  of  the  "be 
still,"  Nature's  imploring  call.    These  two  words  "homeward" 


130  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

and  "be  still'  connect  with  each  other.  Home  is  stillness  and 
stillness  is  home.  The  two  express  themselves  in  worship  and 
there  is  no — nor  can  there  be — worship  where  there  is  no  home 
in  God,  or  stillness  of  God.  Nature  is  anxious  for  us  to  come  to 
worship  or  to  worth-ship,  which  is  the  real  word  or  meaning. 
To  worth-ship  means  to  consider  valuable.  We  ought  to  do  as  she 
does  and  as  Whittier  expresses  it :  strike  the  harp  and  each  with 
our  own  tongue  sing  praises  like  the  "stars  of  morning ;"  we 
ought  to  make  prayers  or  lift  up  our  hearts  and  look  up  into 
heaven ;  we  ought  to  kneel  or  prostrate  ourselves  like  the  sands 
on  the  shore,  and,  thus  we  shall  be  baptized  with  water  drawn 
from  the  eternal  wells ;  we  ought  to  offer  glad  faces  and  happy 
thoughts,  and,  they  shall  shine  like  glittering  treasures  equal  to 
the  song  that  comes  from  the  hills;  such  glad  faces,  happy 
thoughts  and  songs  are  incense,  that  comes  back  to  the  wor- 
shipper laden  with  ' '  sacred  wine ; ' '  and  where  they  are  offered 
there  is  the  Lord's  table,  indeed.  The  thunder  cloud  plays  the 
organ  and  "dropping  tears  or  rain"  wash  away  any  grief  or 
sobs  of  pain.  That  is  the  kind  of  worship  nature  knows  of  and 
has  practiced  always  and  long  before  she  saw  man's  face,  and 
it  is  that  kind  of  worship  she  is  anxious  to  have  us  learn,  and 
she  tells  us  we  cannot  learn  it  except  we  be  "still."  In  stillness 
alone  Tao  "takes  us  in  the  arms." 

Can  you  imagine  what  it  means  to  be  taken  into  the  arms  of 
Tao  under  such  conditions?  Would  it  not  be  glorious?  Would 
it  not  be  heaven?  And  yet  they  await  us !  They  can  be  had  for 
the  asking!  And  they  cost  nothing!  Why  tarry?  Behold  the 
fowls  of  the  air!  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field!  Remember  the 
sage  whom  Laotzse  so  graphically  described!  They  all  know 
about  stillness  and  are  ready  to  testify  and  to  teach! 

Why  will  people  not  be  taught  these  simple  lessons?  I  will 
tell  you.  You  have  perhaps  witnessed  the  scene  that  is  enacted 
every  time  the  wild  geese  come  down  from  the  North  on  account 
of  the  intense  cold.  When  the  tame  geese  in  the  farmer's  yard 
hear  the  honk !  honk !  up  in  the  air,  they  spread  their  short  wings 
and  run  from  one  end  of  the  yard  to  the  other  and  make  a  tre- 
mendous noise — and  that  is  all.  They  do  not  rise  upon  the  wing 
and  fly  away!  They  have  forgotten  to  fly!  And  so  it  is  with 
people.  They  have  forgotten  to  fly!  They  may  well  hear  the 
speakers'  call  and  the  song  of  the  spirit  and  their  blood  may 
throb  quicker  and  they  wish  loudly — but  they  have  forgotten  to 
fly,  and  come  no  further  than  the  door  of  the  meeting  place. 


NATURE-WORSHIP  131 

When  outside  and  on  the  street  they  forget  to  rise  to  heaven  fol- 
lowing the  honk !  honk ! 

Let  us  pray  for  stillness !  When  the  heart  throbs  violently 
and  restlessly!  When  fortune's  wheel  whirls  fastest,  let  us  pray 
for  stillness  that  we  may  measure  our  soul  and  our  longings. 
When  bitterness  and  loss  assail  us,  let  us  pray  for  stillness  that 
we  cast  our  anchor  safely ! 

People  are  earthbound  and  fear  to  rise  high  up  like  the 
eagle  and  see  the  sun.  As  soon  as  they  unawares  have  forgotten 
the  earth  for  a  moment  and  felt  the  breezes  of  freedom,  they 
hasten  to  come  down  again  for  fear  of  falling.  They  are  really 
" souls  in  prison"  and  oh!  the  pity  of  it;  they  prefer  the  narrow 
streets  to  the  Open,  because  they  do  not  know  that  they  are  in 
prison.  They  have  been  born  there.  Their  parents  were  pris- 
oners before  them. 

If  that  young  Greek,  and  those  girl  loves  of  Indra,  and  that 
poor  copyist,  had  sought  nature  in  the  open,  not  in  a  temple 
service;  on  the  mountain  top  and  not  in  the  land  of  the  Uttera- 
kurus;  near  running  brooks  and  in  green  fields  and  not  in  a 
counting  room,  then  they  would  have  learned  what  stillness  is, 
and,  they  would  have  realized  stillness  in  silence  and  solitude 
and  been  saved,  because  "Tao  would  have  taken  their  spirit  in 
the  arms." 

Whittier's  next  stanza  was : 

And  prayer  is  made,  and  prayer  is  given. 

By  all  things  near  and  far; 
The  Ocean  looketh  up  to  the  heaven, 

And  mirrors  every  star. 

Yes,  indeed  "prayer  is  made;"  the  mute  appeal  in  the  dog's 
and  horse's  eye  is  a  prayer,  that  is  both  a  petition  and  a  groan 
for  relief.  Who  is  so  dumb  and  stupid  that  they  never  could 
imagine  the  golden  bridge  which  the  moon  throws  across  the 
ocean  is  "prayer  given"  or  prayer  answered? 

When  the  poet  next  sings  about  ocean's  waves  kneeling  upon 
the  strand  like  a  priesthood  of  the  sea  and  how  they  bring  their 
gifts  of  pearl,  he  happily  personifies  what  can  be  seen  in  cathe- 
drals abroad,  in  Mohammedan  mosques  and  often  in  the  seclu- 
sions of  a  cell,  when  a  human  soul  feels  the  need  of  crawling 
upon  the  knees,  and  thus  finds  relief  for  an  inner  burden.  Of 
course  those  of  you  who  have  never  felt  the  need  of  such  an  art, 


132  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

camiot  comprehend  the  poet's  imagery.  Whittier  must  have  had 
that  experience;  else  he  could  never  have  penned  the  next  two 
lines 

"And  all  the  listening  hills  of  earth 
Take  up  the  song  they  sing." 

These  lines  mean  not  merely  that  echo  answers  back  the 
song  of  the  sea.  They  express  a  literal  fact.  If  you  ever  shall 
have  an  opportunity  to  stand  on  the  ocean  strand  with  miles  of 
desolation  around  you,  you  will  learn  to  understand  how  sea  and 
land  embrace  and  kiss.  Nowhere  else  and  never  at  any  other 
time.  At  such  a  time  you  will  learn  what  Nature-Mysticism  is 
and  you  will  learn  how  to  pray.  I  know  of  one  place  where  you 
can  hear  such  a  solemn  duet  sung  by  the  ocean  and  the  shore. 
Where  the  North  Sea  howls  upon  the  coast  of  Jutland  (Den- 
mark) on  those  places  where  the  Vikings  of  old  landed  when 
they  came  down  from  Iceland  and  the  other  isles;  that  is  the 
place. 

Only  a  devoted  and  worshipful  soul  like  Whittier  could  ever 
discover  that  the  earth  offers  incense  and  that  the  incense- 
burner  is  the  "folded  leaf  and  dewy  cup,"  or  compare  the  early 
morning  mist,  that  of  summer  morning  at  4  o'clock,  to  the  wings 
of  prayer,  or  see  "sunset's  purple  air"  as  altar  curtains,  and 
so  forth  throughout  the  poem. 

Only  persons  who  have  spent  nights  and  days,  mornings  and 
evenings  in  the  mountains,  or  in  great  forests  or  deserts,  or  on 
the  shores  of  the  ocean,  can  catch  the  note  of  stillness  in  the 
transcendence  of  these  things,  but  I  think  all  ought  to  be  able 
to  see  that  in  all  this  there  is  a  condition  of  blessing,  that  there 
is  no  conflict,  no  inner  rupture,  no  loss  of  peace,  no  sin;  but  on 
the  other  hand  sublime  teachings  for  us  on  how  to  do,  and  what 
the  Inner  Life  is. 

Let  me  tell  you  about  something  I  want  you  to  do  in  summer 
on  an  early  morning.  Get  up  early  enough  to  have  time  to  rub  the 
sleep  out  of  your  eyes,  and  get  out  to  meet  the  sun ;  but  you  must 
be  on  the  hill  on  the  edge  of  the  woods  before  the  sun  gets  there! 
If  you  do,  you  will  be  able  to  attend  a  morning  service  such  as 
the  small  birds  conduct  it,  and  you  shall  never  forget  your  ex- 
perience and  perhaps  discover  what  religion  really  is.  At  dawn, 
the  birds  in  certain  localities  all  seem  to  be  touched  by  the  solem- 
nity of  the  hour.  No  man  knows  why  or  how.  It  seems  to  me 
mother  nature  is  the  bandmaster  and  director  of  the  music. 


NATURE,   THE    GREAT    MOTHER  133 

Though  each  bird  sings  his  own  song,  the  myriad  voices  blend  in 
one  concordant  whole.  All  the  birds  seem  to  be  actuated  by 
unity  of  purpose  with  the  feeling  of  some  larger  consciousness. 
Beginning  with  the  desultory  calls  of  woodpeckers,  the  song- 
sparrows,  robins  and  catbirds  all  start  in,  and  in  some  way  the 
thrushes  give  the  symphony  a  devotional  character.  The 
thrushes  are  always  solemn ;  a  tone  of  invocation  predominates. 
The  Veery  or  Wilson  thrush  is  truly  called  the  high-priest  of 
the  mystic  lore  of  the  forest.  When  the  twilight  is  no  more,  the 
warblers  take  up  the  strain  and  express  contentment  of  mind 
and  heart.  With  them  ends  the  morning  service,  and  the  bobo- 
links, these  little  light  hearted  rascals  begin  to  bubble  over  with 
song.  Their  merry  jingles  come  up  from  the  meadows,  bubbling, 
rippling  and  lyric  altogether.  All  this  is  not  poetic  fancy  of 
mine.  Lovers  of  nature  and  life  in  the  open  will  verify  my  words 
and  experience. 

Whence  this  accord?  Nature,  the  great  mother,  falls  in  with 
all  these  voices  and  leads  the  song,  and  therefore  there  is  in  it 
a  personal  address!  Go  into  solitude  and  you  shall  hear  it. 
There  is  reconciliation  in  it.  There  is  religion  in  it.  Nature 
will  teach  you  what  prayer  is  and  how  to  sing  such  as  lips  never 
sing,  but  such  as  the  heart  does  it,  when  it  offers  its  own  warm 
blood  as  the  sacrifice  and  lays  itself  upon  the  altar  as  an  offering. 

Some  day  I  trust  you  may  realize  that  Nature  is  Tao  and 
Teh,  and  that  Whittier  in  this  poem  has  helped  to  show  what 
stillness  is,  in  which  "Tao  takes  our  spirit  in  the  arms."  If  you 
are  at  all  familiar  with  any  of  these  attitudes  just  described, 
you  must  sometime  or  other  have  realized  the  solemnity  and 
reverence  shown  everywhere  where  nature  worships,  and  she 
worships  everywhere.  Come  out  again!  Come  out  on  an  early 
morning  to  hear  the  prelude  to  the  day's  symphony  as  it  is  sung 
in  the  woods.  I  have  heard  it  many  times,  and  I  assure  you,  you 
shall  spend  a  happy  day,  if  you  do.  All  the  mud  that  sticks  to 
your  shoes  will  fall  off;  you  will  not  bring  it  home  again. 

As  regards  stillness,  the  subject  of  this  chapter,  you  shall 
understand  that  it  does  not  merely  mean  cessation  of  sound  or 
noise,  as  with  us  men,  but  that  stillness  to  nature  means  jubila- 
tion and  an  intensity  of  purpose  of  which  men  know  nothing. 
To  us  such  words  as  simplicity  and  stilln  'e  merely  negative 

conceptions.  To  nature  they  are  positive  and  realities,  the  very 
condition  the  sage  wishes  to  bring  men  to. 

I  now  come  to  the  balance  left  of  that  sentence  in  which 


134  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

"stillness"  has  played  so  prominent  a  part.  The  balance  of  the 
sentence  relates  to  Tao  taking  us  in  the  arms.  This  idea  of 
being  taken  into  the  arms  of  Tao  I  now  shall  try  to  illustrate. 

You  are  all  familiar  with  a  number  of  ceremonial  actions, 
actions  which  you  yourself  use  as  expressions  of  your  feeling, 
though  in  all  probability  you  are  not  consciously  aware  of  their 
import,  or  why  you  do  them.  Among  such  ceremonies  implying 
spiritual  actions  the  most  common  are  those  of  "shaking 
hands,"  and,  other  actions  of  the  hand,  such  as  embracing 
friends  and  relatives ;  kissing ;  taking  off  the  hat.  Such  actions 
represent  the  sympathetic  system  in  our  constitution,  and  they 
express  our  feelings  towards  the  neighbor.  This  sympathetic 
system  in  our  constitution  seems  to  be  gradually  sinking  into  the 
sea  of  our  personal  life.  All  the  actions  I  have  referred  to,  and 
numerous  others  of  like  nature,  no  more  play  the  part  in  our 
life  they  used  to.  In  the  cycle  anteceding  the  one  in  which  we 
now  live,  they  were  exceedingly  important  and  were  the  terms  in 
which  men's  feelings  expressed  themselves,  and  they  were  in- 
valuable. They  have  survived  in  some  weak  form  or  other  here 
and  there  even  in  our  own  cycle,  and,  they  still  are  the  essential 
characteristics  of  those  people  who  are  the  remnants  of  earlier 
prehistoric  races,  such  as  among  the  people  we  call  wild  and 
uncivilized.  These  sympathetic  feelings  are  now  sinking  into  the 
sea  or  gradually  receding  in  our  personality,  giving  place  for 
other  systems  and  other  terms;  such  as  for  instance,  that  system 
called  thought-form  which  came  in  a  cycle  characteristic  at  the 
time  Laotze  wrote  his  book.  I  shall  not  speak  any  further  about 
the  loss  of  the  sympathetic  system,  that  must  wait  till  another 
time.  Now,  I  must  speak  of  the  thought-form  system  that  arose 
at  the  beginning  of  our  cycle. 

This  new  system,  which  T  for  convenience  have  called 
thought-form,  is  not  unfamiliar  to  you.  I  will  show  you.  I  will 
suppose  you  to  be  a  lover  and  suddenly  to  have  been  struck 
profoundly  by  another  person  and  realized  what  "sameness"  is, 
or,  in  other  words,  "love,"  for  love  is  essentially  a  feeling  of 
sameness,  of  identity  with  the  beloved.  In  this  feeling  of  same- 
ness, this  familiarity  you  and  tin1  beloved  have  met  and  deter- 
mined not  to  be  separated  again  and  both  found  the  essential 
peace  which  only  such  a  union  gives.    Xo  more  seems  necessary. 

Up  to  this  point  it  was  the  sympathetic  system  that  acted. 
But  now  the  other  system  steps  in.  It  is  a  psychological  fact 
that  neither  of  the  two  rest  in  those  feelings,  in  those  inner  as- 


TAO  135 

surances.  Both  begin  very  soon  to  inquire  into  each  other's  life 
and  ideas,  not  mention  making  inquiries  about  wealth,  or  fame, 
or  history.  These  things  do  not  concern  my  subject.  They  begin 
to  inquire,  because  the  thought-form  system  in  them  clamors  to 
"see"  the  beloved,  to  understand  the  beloved,  to  get  a  picture 
according  to  mind ;  it  demands  a  form  rather  than  an  emotion  as 
an  expression  and  will  not  rest  without  it.  Examine  yourself 
and  you  shall  see  the  correctness  of  what  I  say.  All  lovers  do 
that,  except  Jack  and  Jill ;  they  remain  in  the  sympathetic  sys- 
tem. Every  intelligent  mind  is  restless  before  its  object,  till  it, 
in  a  "corresponding"  way,  has  masticated  and  swallowed  and 
assimilated  it.  First,  after  that,  does  it  possess  the  object  as  an 
object  of  consciousness,  and  this  possessing  the  object  in  con- 
sciousness is  the  demand  of  every  intelligent  mind,  the  very 
characteristic  of  intelligence  and  the  demand  of  the  thought- 
form  system.  To  use  Qvang-tze's  phrase  we  "take  the  object  in 
our  arms." 

You  readily  see  the  close  correspondence  between  the  sym- 
pathetic system's  action  of  taking  a  friend  or  relative  or  the  be- 
loved "in  the  arms"  and  the  same  action  under  the  form  of  un- 
derstanding by  the  thought-form  system:  Both  systems  act  in 
a  similar  direction  and  on  parallel  lines,  but  their  methods  are 
very  different. 

This  action  of  the  two  systems  on  our  relative  plane  of 
life  illustrates  what  Tao  does  on  the  universal  plane  of  life.  And 
as  we  human  beings  on  our  plane  come  into  union,  so  Tao  on  the 
universal  plane  brings  us  into  union  with  itself. 

Tao  "takes  us  in  the  arms"  when  we  have  come  into  still- 
ness or,  which  is  the  same,  when  sameness  or  identity  has  be- 
come a  fact. 

You  can  now  see  the  meaning  of  that  sentence  of  Qvang-tze 
and  you  can  readily  understand  that  we  are  perfect  when  that 
happens.    I  am  now  done  with  that  sentence  I  started  o,ut  with. 


TAO 
IX. 

LOOK  at  the  diagram  (No.  1),  it  is  the  motto  for  this  chap- 
ter. It  is  a  picture  of  Tao. 
I  shall  use  the  word  Tao  very  little  in  this  chapter,  yet, 
not  only  the  frame  of  it  is  of  Tao  but  its  content  is  about 
Tao;  yea,  I  dare  almost  say  it  is  Tao.  The  diagram  will  explain 
itself  as  I  proceed  with  my  expositions;  I  say  expositions,  be- 
cause I  shall  really  give  two ;  the  first  one  is  a  short  one,  consist- 
ing of  four  paragraphs,  and,  the  second  somewhat  longer  going 
over  the  same  ground  as  these  four  paragraphs  though  very 
differently.    The  first  exposition  runs  as  follows: 


Diagram  No.  1. 


ex  ou 
(out  of  which) 

Substance 

Faust 


up  ou 
(by  which) 

Active  Energy 
The  Key 


The 

child 

Tao 

We  our 

I  mm 

ancnt 

Intell 

pow 

er 

selves 


lgence 


The   Mothers 

Imi  innont   Power 

(through  which) 
di    mi 


Helen 
Effect  or 
Transcendental  form 
(with  reference  to  which) 
pros  ou 


TAO  137 

(I)  Observe  the  child.  It  knows  what  it  is  to  be  in  the  con- 
dition of  having  the  thumb  in  the  mouth,  but  it  does  not  know 
what  thumb  means  nor  what  mouth  means.  It  has  not  the  ability 
to  substitute  the  technical  terms  thumb  and  mouth  for  the  con- 
dition which  I  call  "thumb-in-inouth"  condition.  The  child 
knows  quality,  but  not  the  name  for  quality. 

(II)  Again;  we  all  as  children  know  something  shining 
brightly,  now,  as  in  daytime  all  around  us,  then  in  the  darkness 
as  coming  from  certain  objects ;  how  we  do  not  know.  We  may 
be  taught  to  call  it  light  and  we  may  call  it  so,  and  most  of  us 
continue  so  throughout  our  whole  life,  never  even  suspecting 
that  we  talk  merely  like  parrots,  not  knowing  what  we  say.  How 
many  know  why  brightness  is  called  light  and  how  that  concep- 
tion arose?  This  condition  is  sense-consciousness;  it  is  not 
intelligence.  Intelligence  does  not  arise  till  we  in  our  inner 
man  have  found  for  ourselves  a  solution  and  a  term  for  that 
brightness  we  have  been  taught  to.  call  light.  As  an  adjunct  to 
this,  the  second  point,  I  will  have  you  realize  how  much  injury 
we  receive  by  being  educated,  as  we  call  it.  We  learn  certain 
results  attained  by  others  and  that,  of  course,  is  useful,  but  it 
kills  all  originality;  it  kills  the  initiative  in  most  people.  In  the 
schools  we  are  not  even  warned  of  our  danger. 

(III)  Again;  cotton  cannot  weave  itself  into  cloth.  Neither 
can  sensations  transform  themselves  into  thoughts.  Machinery 
weaves  cotton  into  cloth.  The  thought-form  system  transforms 
sensations  into  intelligence. 

(IV)  Again;  our  value  as  human  beings  depends  first  of  all 
upon  intelligence.  Where  there  is  no  intelligence  there  is  no 
humanity,  properly  speaking. 

These  four  points  are  really  a  chapter  in  themselves,  and 
stand  independent  of  the  sequence  of  this  chapter,  but  they  are 
nevertheless  the  fundamental  ideas  that  lie  at  the  bottom  of  it 
and  are  four  sides  of  Tao,  and  that  will  appear  by  and  by. 

Without  exaggerating  much,  I  can  say  that  this  diagram 
(No.  1)  is  a  diagram  of  the  motions  of  your  life  and  mine,  not 
only  in  the  four  large  divisions  of  life  from  birth  to  death,  but 
it  also  represents  the  stages  and  the  driving  forces  of  our  think- 
ing and  acting.  Our  life  swings  around  the  four  points,  whether 
we  will  or  not,  and,  the  diagram  may  be  compared  to  a  clock;  a 
clock  that  has  a  voice.  If  you  listen  closely  you  hear  in  the 
"tick-tack"  a  song  of  "evermore" — "nevermore." 

With  the  triad  added,  this  tetrad  becomes  our  templum. 


138  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

You  know  what  that  word  means ;  I  explained  it  in  two  forgone 
chapters.  Yes !  this  diagram  is  the  ground  plan  of  our  templum 
and  with  the  triad  added  it  reaches  into  the  heavens.  Being  of 
so  much  signification,  I  may  well  urge  you  to  pay  much  atten- 
tion to  it.  The  Innermost  Square  is  characterized  by  four 
terms :  the  child — we  ourselves — inherent  power — intelligence. 
These  terms  express  the  four  stages  of  our  spiritual  evolution. 
I  need  not  describe  them.  It  happens  that  Aristotle  has  already 
done  it.  The  small  Greek  words  on  the  corners  corresponding 
to  the  terms  I  already  have  mentioned,  explain  them.  The  ex  ou 
is  the  "out  of  which"  the  evolution  starts.  The  up  ou  is  the 
"by  which"  it  starts.  The  di  ou  is  the  "through  which"  it  is 
accomplished,  and  the  pros  o<u  is  the  final  end  "with  reference  to 
which"  the  whole  evolution  has  taken  place. 

The  diagram  will  be  of  great  practical  value  to  those  who 
wish  to  see  the  workings  of  their  own  psychological  movements. 
All  ought  to  wish  to  see  that,  because  intelligence  wishes  to  see 
itself  and  you  can  never  be  sure  of  your  motives  or  your  fate  on 
the  Path  unless  you  follow  yourself  step  by  step  through  these 
four.      This  is  the  first  exposition.      Now  for  the  second. 

Since  the  beginning  of  our  present  cycle,  there  is  in  human 
consciousness,  in  most  people,  an  unconscious  and  in  the  few  a 
conscious  demand  to  understand,  or  let  me  say  to  absorb  under- 
standingly  the  object.  After  we  have  grasped  it  with  the  feel- 
ings, we  crave  to  draw  it  into  ourselves ;  we  crave  to  possess  the 
object.  To  grasp  the  object  by  the  feelings  is  true  action,  but 
the  craving  is  a  pervertion  of  an  inherent  and  otherwise  cor- 
rect longing  for  an  identification  with  the  object.  So  long  we 
do  not  in  understanding  grasp  an  object,  so  long  it  remains  out- 
side of  us  and  is  of  no  use  to  us;  nor  do  we  ])Ossess  it,  which  we 
wish  to  and  have  a  right  to.  In  the  preceding  chapter  I  have 
already  .stated  that  if  we  do  not  attain  such  a  grasp  of  the  object, 
we  miss  the  opportunity  of  the  present  cycle  and  live  for  noth- 
ing. It  is  in  the  understanding  that  I  possess  an  object;  in  no 
other  way  do  I  possess  it.  A  flower  in  my  buttonhole,  or,  a 
house,  even  if  my  legal  title  is  perfect,  is  not  in  my  possession. 
They  are  no  part  of  me  and  remain  no  part  of  me.  no  matter 
what  I  do.  But  if  I  understand  them  in  their  principles,  they 
and  I  become  one,  and,  in  that  oneness,  I  become  a  ruler.  This 
identification  and  blending  is  a  law  of  Nature.  Nature  is 
a  system  of  nuptials.  Not  only  the  poet  (Shelley)  knows  that, 
but  science  and  common  observation  shows  it. 


THE  TEMPLE  139 

"The  fountains  mingle  with  the  river 

And  the  rivers  with  the  ocean, 
The  winds  of  heaven  mix  forever 

With  a  sweet  emotion; 
Nothing  in  the  world  is  single; 

All  things,  by  a  law  divine 
In  one  spirit  meet  and  mingle — " 

Why  not  Thou  with  the  Beloved? 
"See,  the  mountains  kiss  high  heaven, 

And  the  waves  clasp  one  another ; 
No  sister-flower  would  be  forgiven 

If  it  disdained  its  brother; 
And  the  sunlight  clasps  the  earth 

And  the  moonbeams  kiss  the  sea; 
What  are  all  these  kissings  worth — 

If  Thou  kiss  not  the  Beloved?" 

This  is  Shelley's  rendering  of  the  law,  and  also  his  state- 
ment why  this  mingling  takes  place — it  is  for  a  sign  and  symbol, 
that  we  kiss  the  Divine,  or  come  to  the  great  mystic  object: 
union  with  God. 

In  the  Vedanta  it  is  said  that  Nature  is  like  a  dancer,  who 
comes  upon  the  scene  to  charm  the  spectator  and  to  be  carried 
home.  The  meaning  is  of  course  this,  that  we  shall  learn  the 
higher  lesson  of  love,  which  is  that  between  the  soul  and  the 
Deity.  "All  things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love 
God,"  is  the  old  gospel  truth.  I  shall  not  stop  further  and  show 
you  the  details  in  Nature's  life.  They  are  easy  enough  to  see 
if  you  will  but  look.  Everywhere  there  is  Beauty,  and  the  word 
Beauty  correctly  translated  means  ''coming  together"  and  noth- 
ing else.  But  it  is  not  merely  in  nature  that  this  happens.  In 
your  own  life  you  have  had  experiences  that  are  of  the  same 
kind.  You  know  how  often  you  have  heard  the  same  wisdom 
taught,  for  instance,  set  forth  by  lecturers  or  friends,  and  you 
could  never  catch  on  to  it,  apprehend  it  or  re-express  it  in  your 
own  terms,  till  some  day,  all  of  a  sudden,  a  happy  word  or 
phrase  or  expression  at  once  made  everything  clear  and  you 
burst  out,  Ah!  now  I  see  it!  In  such  an  experience  the  law  of 
these  psychological  matters  is  to  be  seen.  In  the  novels  you 
read,  if  they  are  skillfully  written,  there  are  many  psycholog- 
ical moments  in  which  the  hero  or  heroine  argue  for  or  against 
their  love  or  other  actions.     Such  argumentations  also  show 


140  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

the  method  according  to  which  the  thoughtform  system  works. 
They  always  lead  to  a  climax  in  which  the  hero  or  heroine 
"sees,"  "understands,"  or  "realizes,"  and,  the  trend  of  the 
whole  story  takes  a  new  and  decided  turn. 

Human  consciousness,  where  it  is  awakened,  is  not  satisfied 
with  a  mere  view  of  an  object,  a  view  obtained  by  merely  see- 
ing the  object.  If  we  were  satisfied,  our  consciousness  would  be 
worth  no  more  than  the  stare  of  a  cow  upon  a  red-painted  door. 
To  know  about  a  thing  is  not  the  same  as  to  know  it.  You  may 
know  a  great  deal  about  Europe,  without  knowing  it.  You  may 
know  about  Theosophy  without  being  a  theosophist.  No  bliss 
is  bliss  unless  realized  intelligently ;  no  thought  is  thought  to  us 
unless  translated  into  mental  substance.  In  Nature,  no  sweets 
will  be  absorbed  as  health,  unless  the  system  needs  them ;  other- 
wise they  are  poison.  Nor  is  human  consciousness  satisfied 
by  the  mere  excited  feelings  or  emotions  that  may  pass  over 
it.  What  are  emotions  worth  if  they  are  not  translated  into  in- 
telligible words?  Surely  no  more  than  opium  dreams,  or  more 
than  the  gusts  of  wind  that  have  struck  us  and  which  we  have 
forgotten  and  perhaps  not  even  noticed.  Human  conscious- 
ness to  be  worth  its  name,  demands  an  understanding,  an  intel- 
lectual possession,  or  a  mental  transmutation  of  that  which  the 
senses  experience. 

I  have  much  against  the  way  life  is  lived  in  our  own  day  and 
in  the  present  cycle,  and,  have  several  times  in  the  foregone 
chapters  expressed  myself  very  strongly  in  condemnation  of 
the  authorities  who  are  responsible  for  the  degradation  of  the 
age.  I  shall  not  add  anything  at  present,  but  say,  that  the  only 
point  which  saves  this  age  is  that  it  still  contains  those  who  pro- 
fess that  all  philosophical,  moral  and  aesthetic  schools,  ought  to 
be  keyed  in  the  note  of  the  thought-form  system,  or  set  in  the 
principles  of  order,  form,  rule,  number,  method,  and  so  forth. 
Those  few  balance  that  other  mass,  or  those  who  let  the  sym- 
pathetic system  run  wild,  allowing  it  to  destroy  them  in  their 
fury  and  burn  them  in  its  unquenchable  fire. 

I  referred  to  the  senses.  The  senses  are  the  windows  of  the 
soul,  not  its  governors.  The  soul  looks  out  through  these  win- 
dows and  the  sun  looks  in  with  the  whole  company  of  objective 
figures,  movements  and  impulses.  When  all  these  forms  enter 
through  the  window,  our  image-making  power,  one  aspect  of  the 
thought-form  system,  gives  them  body  or  turns  them  into  shapes, 
or,  as  Shakespeare  in  a  fine  line  has  it,  "gives  to  airy  nothing  a 


CONSCIOUSNESS  141 

local  habitation  and  a  name."  They  enter  as  "airy  nothings" 
but  by  us  they  receive  "a  local  habitation  and  a  name,"  or,  in 
other  words,  they  become  something  substantial  in  our  minds, 
and  that  is  all  the  reality  they  have  or  ever  will  get,  as  far  as 
we  are  concerned.  But  this  substantiality  they  thus  receive  is 
our  salvation  or  redemption  or  understanding  of  them,  and,  if 
they  did  not  receive  that  substantial  form  they  would  be  of  no 
use,  nor  become  a  part  of  us,  and  would  affect  us  no  more  than 
a  wind  that  sweeps  over  our  heads.  We  would  know  through 
our  feelings  or  our  sense  consciousness  that  something  had  hap- 
pened, but  no  more;  and  knowing  no  more,  we  should  derive 
no  mental,  moral,  or  spiritual  benefit  from  them. 

Dryden  speaks  of  his  work  when  it  was  only  a  confused 
mass  of  thoughts,  tumbling  over  one  another  in  the  dark,  when 
the  fancy  (he  meant  image-making  power)  was  yet  in  its  first 
work,  moving  the  sleeping  images  of  things  towards  the  light, 
there  to  be  distinguished  (that  is,  separated),  and  then  either  to 
be  chosen  or  rejected  by  the  judgment,  namely,  reason.  This, 
which  Dryden  here  calls  the  "sleeping  images  of  things,"  are 
those  first  or  original  shapes  which  our  image-making  power 
gives  all  our  sense  perceptions,  and  they  are  the  ones  we  have 
to  deal  with  and  out  of  which  comes  complete  consciousness.  You 
must  notice  this  point,  that  they  get  their  sustenance  from  our 
minds  or  personality  and  have  no  other.  The  process  is  that 
of  the  seed  laid  in  the  soil.  It  grows  and  develops  by  means  of 
the  substance  it  derives  from  the  soil,  but  is  and  remains  itself. 
The  growth  or  the  shape  acquired  is  the  middle  link,  the  child, 
if  I  may  so  call  it,  born  of  the  potentiality  of  the  seed  and  the 
soil.  Without  it,  no  union,  no  at-one-ment.  This  child,  as  I  call 
it,  is  the  thought-form  manifesting  itself.  You  see  not  only  how 
the  thought-form  manifests  itself,  but  also  its  tremendous  im- 
portance in  what  we  call  life.  The  personality  in  which  this 
has  taken  place  is  worthy  to  be  called  intelligent ;  and  it  is  on  the 
Path.  Some  people  say  that  now  the  christ-child  has  been  born 
in  them.      Meister  Eckardt  said  so,  too. 

I  will  now  attempt  to  illustrate  this  process  and  I  shall  vary 
the  nature  of  illustrations.  In  the  foregone  chapters,  I  have 
drawn  my  illustrations  from  our  moral  consciousness  and  some- 
times from  our  sense  consciousness.  Now  I  will  take  them  from 
our  aesthetic  consciousness  and  lead  into  it  by  one  illustration 
from  our  intellectual  consciousness. 

It  is  the  inherent  demand  to  hear  "the  child,"  a  demand 


142  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

for  transmutation,  for  reconciliation,  for  personal  appropria- 
tion, that  in  the  philosopher  demands  a  "notion"  or  an  idea  or  a 
word  which  will  contain  the  object  in  a  mental  form,  and  thus  give 
him  a  mental  equivalent  for  the  outside  object.  When  he  finds 
or  conceives  this  notion,  or  idea,  then  he  is  free  of  the  object, 
and  the  object  is  subject  to  him,  and  he  controls  it  in  such  a  way 
that  it  practically  is  taken  out  of  the  universe  as  an  independent 
power  and  becomes  his  and  his  only.  You  have  heard  of  magi- 
cians possessing  words  which  enabled  them  to  perform  wonders. 
Such  words  are  acquired  by  the  process  I  mentioned.  They  are 
not  gotten  by  mere  transmission  from  a  master  to  a  pupil.  They 
can  only  be  acquired  by  the  magian  himself,  by  the  magian  him- 
self passing  through  the  alchemical  process. 

Of  course,  I  cannot  here,  even  if  I  were  able  to  do  it,  explain 
the  alchemical  process,  but,  as  I  at  present  am  dealing  with  our 
aesthetic  consciousness,  I  can  picture  it  to  some  extent,  and  there- 
by perhaps  cause  you  to  "work,"  as  it  is  called  alchemically, 
or  to  enter  the  Path,  as  they  say  in  the  Orient  and  among  mys- 
tics. I  will  take  a  scene  from  Goethe's  Faust.  It  is  found  in 
the  second  part,  first  act.  Faust  demands  that  Mephistopheles 
shall  produce  Helen,  the  most  beautiful,  but  also  the  most  bane- 
ful Greek  woman.  Mephistopheles  objects,  but  Faust  persists. 
Mephistopheles  says: 

"The  Heathen-folk  I  am  glad  to  let  alone; 
In  their  own  hell  is  cast  their  lot, 

but  admits  there  are  ways  and,  forced  by  Faust,  he  declares 

"Loth  am  I  higher  secrets  to  unfold. 
In  solitude,  where  reigns  nor  space  nor  time, 
Are  goddesses  enthroned  from  early  ages — 
—  'Tis  hard  to  speak  of  beings  so  sublime — 
— The  Mothers  are  they. —  " 

At  this  word,  the  "mothers,"  Faust  shrinks  back  terrified, 
but  recovers  under  Mephistopheles'  sarcasm  and  admits  he  is 
in  fear  and  trembling.  Mephistopheles  explains  that  these  god- 
desses are  unknown  to  men,  and  unwillingly  named  by  him.  He 
also  tells  Faust,  who  demands  to  know  the  way  to  them,  that 
there  is 

"No  way;  to  the  untrodden  none, — 
No  locks  nor  bolts — 
Onlv  solitudes — " 


"the  mothers"  143 

Do  you  know  what  the  void  is?  Faust,  as  usual,  stops 
Mephisto 's  dilatory  talk  and  persists  in  his  demands.  Finally 
Mephisto  hands  Faust  a  little  key  which,  he  tells  him: 

"Follow!  thee  to  the  Mothers  it  will  lead!" 

Again  upon  hearing  the  word  "the  Mothers"  Faust  shud- 
ders, but  soon  springs  up  in  ecstacy,  because  now  he  has  found 
the  word,  the  liberating  power,  the  key. 

"Good !  Firmly  I  grasp  it.      New  strength  is  mine ; 

My  breast  expands!  Now  on  to  accomplish  my  great  pur- 
pose;" And  Mephistopheles  approvingly  cries  out: 

" — So,  that  is  right! 

The  key  cleaves  to  thee;  it  follows  like  a  slave!" 

I  need  not  continue  Goethe's  drama  any  further.  Faust 
has  the  key  and  Helen  is  brought  forth.  Now,  what  is  it  that 
takes  place  f  It  is  this,  that  Faust  immediately  grasps  the  situa- 
tion in  that  moment  he  discovers  what  the  key  can  do.  The  key 
to  him  is  the  same  as  the  "notion"  to  the  philosopher.  xVt  that 
moment  he  rises  as  master;  all  confusion  is  blown  away,  and  no 
longer  overwhelmed  with  fears  or  tremblings  or  the  power  of  the 
situation,  he  exclaims: 

"Good!  Firmly  I  grasp  it.    New  strength  is  mine 

My  breast  expands!  Now  on  to  accomplish  my  great  pur- 
pose;" and  Mephisto  also  knows  that  Faust  has  "seen,"  has 
"understood,"  has  "realized,"  or  in  other  words,  has  under- 
gone that  psychological  transmutation  I  have  explained  in  de- 
tails. Let.  Faust  represent  the  philosopher,  and  my  illustration 
will  point  to  one  of  the  methods  of  the  thought-form  system  by 
which  the  reflective  mind  attains  control  over  itself,  or  awakens 
to  the  value  of  life  and  its  means  of  salvation. 

At  present  I  shall  say  nothing  further  about  Faust  and 
Helen.  The  two  other  powers  are  far  more  interesting.  "The 
key"  is  of  course  "the  active  energy"  in  existence,  and  in  these 
chapters  called  the  thought-form  system.  I  have  chosen  that 
term.  I  have  said  before,  because  it  best  expresses  the  Tao  of 
the  Tao-Teh-King,  such  as  it  slowly  is  coming  to  the  front  in 
these  chapters  and  as  you  shall  see  it  fully  when  we  come  to  the 
end  of  them.  I  can  give  you  several  equivalents  for  it  in  Occi- 
dental philosophy,  but  I  shall  not  use  them  myself  because  they 
are  to  me  no  more  than  suggestions  and  not  full  expressions.    It 


144  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

was  the  Greek  mind  that  first  began  to  search  for  an  abstract  and 
technical  term  and  found  it  in  Anaxagoras.  He  named  it  Nous 
and  meant  thereby  the  ordering  principle,  that  principle  which 
as  active  energy  gave  unity,  system  and  movement  to  the  uni- 
verse. Pythagoras  later  called  it  Number,  a  wonderful  term, 
for  law  and  order.  Nous  with  Plato  became  an  attribute  of 
deity,  and  phychologically  also  the  highest  form  of  mental  in- 
sight, or  reason,  as  we  are  wont  to  call  it.  All  knowledge  and 
insight  depends  upon  nous.  This  is  sufficient  for  the  present. 
It  may  help  you  somewhat.  The  later  senses  given  to  nous  will 
appear  in  due  time.  At  present  I  call  it  the  thought-form, 
and  I  speak  of  the  thought-form  system  when  I  say  ''the  key" 
that  Faust  got,  and  which  brought  him  to  the  mothers  and  un- 
locked the  power  that  could  lift  Helen  into  the  world.  Next 
come  the  mothers  before  us  and  crave  our  attention. 

The  mothers  are  modern  names  for  nature-goddesses 
among  the  Pelasgians,  the  prehistoric  races  of  large  parts  of 
southern  Europe.  The  Greek  and  Eoman  goddesses  Perse- 
phone and  Demeter  were  survivals  of  these  nature-goddesses. 
The  mothers  as  conceived  by  the  Pelasgians  were  identical  with 
the  tripod  upon  which  and  inside  of  which  they  lived.  They 
were  the  types  of  all  conceptions,  causes  and  energies;  hence 
Faust  must  go  to  them.  All  of  which,  of  course,  means  that  he 
must  descend  to  the  core  of  the  universe,  to  the  "Immanent 
Power, "  through  which  alone  things  happen  in  our  sphere  of 
existence.  He  attained  his  object  by  "the  key,"  or  the  "active 
energy. ' ' 

All  of  this  is,  of  course,  symbolism  and  life-truth,  and  can 
be  studied  in  various  ways.  At  present,  I  present  it  all  as  the 
thought-form  system  and  have  represented  it  in  the  diagram. 
If  you  follow  the  inscriptions  and  this  Faustic  scene,  you  will 
see  how  they  explain  each  other.  I  shall  not  dwell  much  upon 
the  diagram  now.  It  will  receive  many  more  inscriptions  as  I 
refer  to  it  in  the  future,  when  we  shall  see  Tao  under  all  four 
forms. 

In  this  scene  of  Goethe's  we  have  the  four  elements,  the 
quaternary  represented  by  Faust,  the  Key,  the  Mothers,  Helen. 
Mephisto  is  the  dens  ex  machina  and  does  not  belong  to  either 
quaternary  or  ternary.  For  the  present  study  of  Taoism,  the 
Tetrad,  the  4,  is  the  most  important,  and  among  its  many  names, 
I  will  montion  the  most  interesting  in  the  connection  with  the 
subject  in  hand.  Four  is  called  "the  fountain  of  nature,"  and 


"the  mothers"  145 

many  peoples  of  antiquity  had  a  name  for  Deity  consisting  of 
four  letters;  hence  I  surmise,  for  that  reason,  four  was  called 
"the  keybearer."  Four  also  is  the  constituent  of  a  virtuous  life, 
the  four  virtues  being  Prudence,  Temperance,  Fortitude  and 
Justice.  But  the  most  interesting  at  present  is  this,  that  Taoism 
distinguishes  Tao  under  four  aspects,  four  aspects  which  coin- 
cide with  the  four  causes  of  Aristotle  and  the  four  forms  already 
presented. 

AVhat  is  Tao  ?  The  answer,  I  shall  give,  I  take  from  an  emin- 
ent Taoist,  Huai-Nan-Tzu.  "What  is  Tao?"  he  asked;  and  an- 
swers: (I)  "It  is  that  which  supports  heaven  and  covers  the 
earth;  it  has  no  boundaries,  no  limits;  its  heights  cannot  be 
measured,  nor  its  depths  fathomed;  it  enfolds  the  entire  uni- 
verse in  its  embrace,  and  confers  visibility  upon  that  which  of 
itself  is  formless. 

(II)  It  is  so  tenuous  and  subtle  that  it  pervades  every- 
thing just  as  water  pervades  mire.  It  is  by  Tao  that  moun- 
tains are  high  and  abysses  deep;  that  beasts  walk  and  birds 
fly;  that  the  sun  and  moon  are  bright,  and  the  stars  revolve  in 
their  courses. 

(III)  When  the  Spring  winds  blow,  the  sweet  rain  falls; 
and  all  things  live  and  grow.  The  feathered  ones  brood  and 
hatch,  the  furry  ones  breed  and  bear ;  plants  and  trees  put  forth 
all  their  glorious  exuberance  of  foliage;  birds  lay  eggs,  and 
animals  produce  their  young. 

(IV)  No  action  is  visible  outwardly,  and  yet  the  work  is 
completed.  Shadowy  and  indistinct,  it  has  no  form.  Indistinct 
and  shadowy,  its  resources  have  no  end.  Hidden  and  obscure,  it 
reinforces  all  things  out  of  formlessness.  Penetrating  and  per- 
meating everything,  it  never  acts  in  vain." 

Now  what  is  this  in  our  language  of  the  Occident  but  Nature, 
the  creating  and  forming  principle  of  existence  and  also  the  sub- 
stance of  all  we  know.  It  is  the  natura  naturans  of  the  philos- 
ophers as  well  as  the  natura  naturata,  the  cause  of  all  phe- 
nomena as  well  as  the  phenomena  themselves. 

Tao,  then,  is  Nature.  That  is  the  first  translation  of  the 
word;  others  will  follow.  If  we  analyze  the  description  given, 
we  see  how  the  author  begins  by  (1)  the  ideas  of  substance;  (2) 
then  he  defines  Tao  as  immanent  power;  (3)  then  as  active 
energy;  and  finally  he  suras  up  by  (4)  transcendental  terms 
and  definitions.  In  other  words,  he  begins  in  the  tangible  and 
ends  in  the  intangible,  and,  that  is  so  beautiful,  because  that  is 


146  THE  IK  NEE  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

the  order  of  regeneration  both  intellectually  and  volitionally. 
It  is  Nature's  way  of  training  us. 

(I)  Laotzse,  the  master,  like  the  disciple,  speaks  of  Tao 
under  four  forms,  and  speaks  of  it  as  being  from  before  the 
beginning,  immaterial,  and  a  primordial  mystery.  It  is  every- 
where, and  can  be  on  the  right  side  at  the  same  time  as  it  is  on 
the  left.      In  other  words  it  is  substance. 

(II)  Laotzse  also  speaks  of  Tao  as  manifested  or  individu- 
alized :  in  man,  for  instance,  as  reason  or  immediate  knowledge. 
This  is  Tao  as  immanent  power. 

(III)  Laotzse  finally  says:  "These  two  are  one  and  the 
same  and  differ  only  in  name,"  and  this  "sameness"  leads  to 
a  new  signification  of  Tao,  namely,  as  "the  abyss  of  abysses." 

(IV)  But  Laotzse  also  emphasizes  again  and  again  that 
Tao  cannot  be  comprehended,  or,  in  other  words,  that  Tao  is 
transcendental.  Here,  then,  are  four  important  aspects  of  Tao 
and  I  must  try  to  elucidate  them,  but  not  at  present. 

Thus  far  I  have  been  dealing  with  the  thought-form  system 
mainly  as  it  manifests  itself  in  the  philosophical  mind  or  in  the 
form  of  our  mind  which  reasons.  I  said  before  I  would  do  that, 
introductory  to  some  forms  of  our  a?sthetic  consciousness  under 
the  influence  of  the  thought-form  system.  I  now  come  to  these 
aesthetic  forms,  and  will  first  speak  of  the  musical  mind. 

A  musician  builds  a  tune-architecture,  which  is  a  visible, 
rather  than  an  audible  form,  and  this  form  overcomes  the  cor- 
poreal. That  form  scintilates  with  light ;  light  which  never  was 
on  sea  nor  land.  I  said  visible,  not  audible  form,  because  music, 
of  all  arts,  is  the  most  powerful  image-maker.  True  enough, 
we  hear  it  in  its  first  appearance,  but  it  stays  with  us  as  a  visible 
image,  because  it  is  an  image.  And  ever  afterwards  its  appear- 
ance is  before  the  inner  eye  as  a  light,  a  form  without  extention; 
or  to  put  it  in  another  way,  it  is  ever  afterwards  spirit  appear- 
ing as  spirit,  or  spirit  focussing  itself.  It  is  therefore  that  I  call 
it  a  visual  image  rather  than  an  audible  image.  Of  course,  I 
am  speaking  of  music  in  its  real  or  occult  sense.  I  mean  by 
Music:  the  inner  Word,  or  Logos.  I  mean  sounds  which, 
when  they  enter  us,  transform  themselves  to  intelligence,  to 
mind.  Music  is  mind  speaking  to  mind,  or  cosmic  emotions 
vibrating  in  unison  with  subjective  emotions,  and  as  such,  re- 
flecting themselves  in  the  musician.  Music  is  not  the  same  as 
harmonious  sounds,  however  charming.  Music  is  the  speaking 
voice  of  tli o  Divine.    It  is  a  message  to  the  world  coming  through 


music  147 

the  musician.  All  this  is  of  course  of  transcendental  nature, 
something  that  takes  place  in  the  sublime  solitude  of  genius  and 
in  that  stillness  spoken  of  before.  The  world  outside  of  solitude 
and  stillness  hears  a  manifoldness  of  sounds,  perhaps  in  geom- 
etric or  arithmetric  order,  and  it  trembles  at  times  into  ecstacy 
and  feels  the  transcendental  has  come  very  near.  But  the  out- 
side cannot  retain  the  musical  images;  it  cannot  translate  them 
into  rational  terms.  And  music  is  not  music  unless  such  transla- 
tions take  place.  Only  genius  in  stillness  can  do  it.  One  pro- 
phet understands  another;  one  mystic  perceives  immediately 
the  inspiration  of  another.  As  I  already  have  said,  all  this  takes 
place  in  the  sublime  solitude  of  genius,  in  stillness.  And  when  it 
does  take  place,  Tao  has  taken  the  spirit  in  its  arms.  If  we 
wish  to  hear  the  fabled  music  of  the  spheres,  and  wish  to  rise 
to  the  goddess  of  beauty  that  keeps  the  immortally  tuned  harp, 
we  must  retire  to  the  solitude  or  quiet  places  of  our  own  souls, 
there,  and,  there  only,  do  we  find  the  universe  reflected  and  see 
those  tune-architectures  which  stand  in  that  sea,  whence  sprang 
the  Anadyomene.  The  wave-born  Venus  Anadyomene  is  not 
wantonness,  she  is  Music,  a  celestial  love-song. 

In  the  first  chapter  I  stated  that  "  solitude  means  that  the 
ego  is  alone  with  itself."  That  solitude  is  the  plane  of  "the 
twice-born;"  all  of  which  means  that  the  noisy  and  clamorous 
sense-consciousness  has  been  subdued  and  that  the  thought- 
form  system  rules.  Such  are  the  conditions  necessary  for  the 
birth  of  music  and  for  the  birth  of  the  musician,  or,  as  applied 
to  ourselves,  for  the  opening  and  energizing  of  the  musical  con- 
sciousness of  ours. 

The  sculptor  reduces  his  perceptions  to  a  form,  let  me  say  a 
human  one,  and  this  form  or  image  he  builds  up  by  lines,  in  such 
a  way  that  his  image  represents  to  him  the  true  or  real  man,  and, 
moreover,  in  such  a  way  that  this  image  fills  him  with  the  power 
of  the  ideal  world.  And  he  is  both  the  conception  and  the  birth. 
His  image  becomes  himself,  and,  unless  he  becomes  that  image, 
the  eternal  form  is  not  found. 

This  image,  or  the  finished  statue,  is  to  him  his  reconciliation 
or  at-one-ing  of  an  outer  objective  world  and  his  own  conscious- 
ness. In  it,  the  dualism  is  at-one-ed  and  he  calls  his  art  higher 
than  the  nature  which  it  represents.  This  image  or  finished 
statue  makes  him  feel  that  he  is  a  master-creator,  and  it  lifts 
him  beyond  himself.  In  his  own  work  he  sees  the  immortal 
power  that  worked  in  him  and  by  him  and  for  him.  And  if  he  has 


148  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

reverence,  he  does  not  call  the  work  his  own  in  any  special  sense. 
I  do  not  think  that  Michael  Angelo  for  a  moment  thought  of  ' '  the 
Aurora"  on  the  tomb  of  Lorenzo  de  Medici,  as  his  in  a  special 
sense.  I  do  not  think  that  the  artist  who  caused  the  daemonic 
expression  on  the  Venus  of  Milo,  dreamt  of  it  as  his.  The  sculp- 
tor's work  is  the  seal  of  his  election,  and  that  is  his  pay.  He  lies 
in  the  arms  of  Tao.  He  has  tasted  the  waters  of  Pythagoras ' 
well  at  Crotona,  and  is  no  longer  at  war  with  himself  and  his  sur- 
roundings. He  is  one  of  the  immortals.  And  that  is  enough. 
This  is  done  in  solitude,  in  stillness.  In  solitude  he  and  the  ob- 
jective were  married,  and  the  child  of  that  marriage  is  himself. 
Here  again  I  quote  what  I  said  in  the  first  chapter  about  soli- 
tude, that  it  strips  us  naked  of  all  the  incidental  and  trivial  and 
burns  these  up.  In  solitude  none  of  the  five  senses  work;  they  are 
merely  doors  by  which  the  soul  passes  in  and  out ;  in  to  itself  and 
out  to  Nature. 

How  is  the  poet  born  and  how  does  he  lie  in  the  arms  of 
Tao?  As  for  the  poet:  "He  must  come  to  us,  another  Numa,  ra- 
diant and  inspired  from  the  kisses  of  Egeria.,,  Egeria  was  a 
nymph,  and  nymphs  do  not  live  in  market  places;  they  are  only 
found  on  solitary  woodpaths  and  secluded  places  in  Nature's  se- 
cret haunts,  in  stillness.  There  the  poet  retires,  when  he  seeks  the 
word  that  shall  overcome  and  slay  the  hydra  of  confusion  and 
discord.  The  word,  namely,  which  for  him  is  the  thought-form 
that  can  supplant  the  passion,  which  thrilled  him.  The  word,  in 
which  he  and  the  eternal  become  one.  Whether  the  storm  rushes 
into  the  woods  like  Boreas,  or  breathes  like  gentle  Zephyrs,  he 
perceives  and  lays  hold  of  the  rhythmic  swing  which  vibrates  so- 
lutions and  conceptions  to  his  genius.  And  in  that  moment  he  is 
free,  and  master  over  those  very  vibrations.  The  poet  is  like  the 
musician.  They  both  formulate  sentient  life,  and  thereby  attain 
their  freedom,  but  the  poet  is  not  satisfied  by  merely  rousing 
sentiment,  he  wants  to  portray  it,  too.  Hence  he  endeavors  to 
translate  his  passion  into  thought,  and  to  awaken  the  image- 
making  power  that  he  may  fasten  his  images  in  that  power.  He 
does  this  by  language.  His  language  is  best  or  only  learned  in 
Nature's  solitudes,  in  the  stillness  of  Tao.  In  fact,  the  poet  is  the 
only  one  who  speaks  an  original  language;  all  others  are  his 
imitators.  The  poet  is  the  one  who  translates  Mother-Nature's 
sentiments  into  set  terms  for  the  rest  of  us,  and  thereby  he  be- 
fomos  -m  interpreter  for  us  and  gives  us  that  insight,  that  under- 
standing we  longed  for  but  were  not  able  to  give  ourselves.    He 


THE   POET  149 

can  do  so  because  Egeria,  the  nymph,  kisses  him,  and  Hybla, 
another  nymph,  bathes  him  in  the  ethereal  dews.  Of  Nature's 
original  stillness,  the  poet  was  the  first  prophet,  the  first  re- 
vealer,  the  one  who  set  man  free  by  giving  him  the  word. 

You  are  all  familiar  with  the  story  of  the  New  Testament,  I 
suppose,  and  have  all  probably  read  the  life  of  Jesus,  told  in  it. 
You  will  agree  with  me,  that  it  is  a  most  marvellous  and  beauti- 
ful tale.  Indeed,  that  story  will  as  Renan  prophetically  saw  it,  be 
told  throughout  all  ages  and  never  grow  stale  or  lose  its  charm. 

You  have  perhaps  also  discovered  that  unwritten  poem  of 
the  Christ,  which  vibrates  between  the  lines  and  trembles  in  the 
accords  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  as  it  is  played  upon  New  Testament 
strings.  It  is  the  mystic  life,  the  life  of  immaculate  conception. 
It  is  a  form  of  the  Inner  Life  told  in  the  terms  of  a  living  man, 
and  thereby  giving  us  that  understanding  I  spoke  of,  which  we 
long  for  in  order  to  get  a  tangible  symbol,  like  the  idea,  which  the 
philosopher  conceived ;  or  the  accord  that  composes  itself  in  the 
heart  of  the  musician,  or  the  word  that  placed  itself  upon  the 
poet's  tongue.  It  is  the  divine  life,  the  Inner  Life,  as  it  was  con- 
ceived in  the  soul  of  Mary.  It  is  that  life  which  is  born  in  soli- 
tude, through  Mary,  not  by  Mary.  It  is  the  life  that  eternally 
was  with  the  Father  and  which  comes  into  the  world,  but  the 
world  sees  it  not.  This  mystic  story  interwoven  with  the  gospel 
story  is  the  "eternal  gospel"  of  which  older  mystics — such  as, 
for  instance,  Joachim  of  Flores — speak  much.  It  is  the  life  of 
"the  indwelling  Christ"  in  "the  twice  born."  It  is  the  life  that 
makes  Jesus  a  master  mystic.  It  is  the  life  of  which  Jesus  testi- 
fied, that  it  would  be  lived,  when  men  no  longer  worshipped  in 
Jerusalem;  it  is  that  life  which  Jesus  refers  to  when  lie  says  "I 
am  the  truth,  the  way  and  the  life,"  and,  when  he  declared  that 
no  one  comes  to  the  Father  except  by  him.  Need  I  say  that  that 
life  is  the  life  of  re-conciliation  and  that  it  is  learned  in  solitude? 
It  is  a  life  in  the  arms  of  Tao. 

Jesus,  the  poets,  the  musicians,  the  sculptors  and  the  other 
artists  take  us  into  the  white  light  of  life's  flame;  but  the  relig- 
ionist, the  professional,  the  priest,  plunges  into  the  abyss  of  the 
red  and  terrible  fire  that  burns  in  the  core  of  every  flame.  In  in- 
tense passion  and  fanatic  self-destructiveness,  he  seeks  destruc- 
tion as  a  solution  of  life's  dualism.  Sacrifice  to  him  is  reconcilia- 
tion. Sacrifice  is  his  cry!  Immolation  is  the  means;  he  teaches, 
not  of  redemption  here — it  is  too  patent  that  it  does  not  come 
]iere — but  yonder,  in  another  world — he  does  not  know  where  lo- 


150  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

cated,  and  does  not  care.  In  frenzy  he  has  relished  and  in  fierce- 
ness he  has  revelled  in  the  blood  of  his  sacrifice  and  thought  he 
bought  his  peace.  But  no !  That  understanding  we  long  for,  that 
verbal  key  we  seek  to  Nature's  mystery,  is  not  found  in  the  cry 
of  the  sacrificial  victim.  The  sacrificial  method  is  not  the  method 
of  our  cycle ;  our  thought-form  system  cannot  use  it.  If  the  cries 
of  his  victims  could  be  steered  into  one  stream,  that  stream 
would  be  powerful  enough  to  unhinge  the  universe,  I  think,  but 
could  never  give  freedom  and  the  peace  of  Tao's  arms. 

Nay,  my  friends,  Empedokles  did  not  find  the  solution  he 
sought  by  plunging  into  the  Etna  volcano.  It  is  only  at  a  dis- 
tance that  the  volcano  is  beautiful;  it  is  only  on  the  stage  that 
violence  becomes  dramatic;  it  is  only  in  fancy  that  lust  can  be 
made  luminous,  and,  it  is  only  when  the  lightening  behind  the 
thunder  cloud  illumines  its  edges,  that  it  becomes  sublime.  The 
actuality  is  terrible  and  carries  no  redemption  from  burdens; 
offers  no  reconciliation  of  opposites  and  blood  cries  for  revenge. 
Reconciliation  is  not  attained  by  sacrifice  or  by  blood !  It  comes 
only  in  stillness.  Over  all  this  religiousness  lies  a  solitude 
which  is  dismay,  isolation,  and  the  death,  that  is  death.  Tao's 
arm  is  not  underneath. 

And  now  I  come  back  to  Shelley's  poem  quoted  in  the  begin- 
ning of  this  chapter:  "What  are  all  these  kissings  worth — "  and 
the  final  line  "If  Thou  kiss  not  thy  Beloved!"  What  are  they 
worth?      Are  they  worth-ships  ?(  weorth-scip.) 

Tou  remember  what  T  said  in  a  foregone  chapter  on  worship 
and  its  value,  its  character  as  an  expression  of  our  union  with  the 
Divine.  "All  these  kissings" — that  of  the  philosopher  and  the 
notion — that  of  the  musician  and  his  visual  image — that  of  the 
sculptor  and  the  line — that  of  the  poet  and  the  passionate  lan- 
guage— "all  these  kissings"  arc  conquests  of  elemental  powers 
and.  to  be  real  blessings,  we  lay  them  upon  the  alter  of  an  hum- 
ble heart.  They  are  conquests,  I  said.  The  musician  can,  after 
the  method  of  Faust,  use  the  fire-power  to  create,  recreate  and 
to  dissolve  worlds.  The  simple  experiment  of  breaking  a  glass 
by  a  violin  bow  is  enough  to  prove  it.  The  poet,  by  the  same 
method,  becomes  an  embodiment  of  the  Over-Soul,  and,  the  sculp- 
tor touches  that  which  ordinary  man  can  neither  see  nor  touch 
ilraws  that  etherial  line  which  constitutes  the  heavenly 
inatiH'inatics.  The  philosopher  forges  a  tool  for  all  of  these  souls 
whereby  they  literally  build  their  astral  and  spiritual  bodies. 


THE  SCULPTOR  151 

Each  and  all  bring  these  powers  to  the  worship  (Weorth-scip) 
of  the  Supreme. 

All  that  which  I  have  expressed  by  forms  drawn  from  our 
aesthetic  consciousness  has  also  practical  value  and  can  by  you 
be  applied  to  will  and  moral  consciousness.  That  which  I  have 
said  is  not  merely  entertaining  thought  (if  it  is  that),  it  is  oc- 
cult philosophy  and  Inner  Life.  No  matter  on  what  plane  you 
break  through — on  the  aesthetic  or  the  moral — break  through 
you  must.  The  breaking  through  is  the  second  birth  and  none 
shall  live  but  those  who  are  born  again. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  you  or  I  should  become  philosophers, 
musicians,  sculptors  or  poets,  but  it  is  necessary  that  the  princi- 
ples which  these  genial  souls  embody  should  be  awakened  in  us 
and  set  in  activity. 


TEH 
X. 

I  SHALL  now  speak  about  Teh,  which,  as  already  said  in 
past  chapters,  is  the  realization  of  Tao,  or  Tao  as  mani- 
fested in  life  at  large  and  especially  by  the  sage. 

The  Chinese  sign,  which  spells  Teh,  is  a  double  sign 
and  made  up  of  two  others,  which  respectively  mean  "  to  go," 
"  to  walk,"  or  "  to  pass,"  and  "  an  upright  heart";  in  other 
words,  the  sign  means  "  the  walk  of  an  upright  heart,"  or,  as 
we  would  say,  virtue.  Chinese  dictionaries  connect  the  word 
Teh  with  the  word  Tek,  which  means  "  to  attain  "  or  "  to  be 
able  to."  If  this  word  Tek  be  the  older  word — that  is,  the  word 
which  expresses  physical  ability,  which  it  probably  does,  then 
Teh  could  be  construed  to  mean  "  that  which  we  are  able  to  do 
or  which  we  must  do."  In  either  case  the  word  will  cany  the 
sense  of  virtue ;  in  the  former  it  will  mean  moral  virtue,  in  the 
latter  something  physical.  In  both  cases  something  to  strive 
for.  So  much  for  the  technical  meaning  of  the  sign  and  the 
word  Teh. 

Inasmuch  as  Teh  is  the  realization  of  Tao,  it  is  necessary 
that  I  re-state  the  main  quality  of  Tao  in  order  to  show  how  Teh 
is  a  realization.  I  will  re-state  what  Tao  is  by  a  re-reading  of 
Huan-Nan-Tzu's  explanation,  and  you  will  recollect  the  fourfold 
aspect  of  Tao  as  I  pointed  it  out  before.  Huan-Nan-Tzu  ex- 
plains what  Tao  is  by  saying: 

(1)  "It  is  that  which  supports  heaven  and  covers  the  earth; 
it  has  no  boundaries,  no  limits;  its  heights  cannot  be  measured, 
nor  its  depths  fathomed;  it  enfolds  the  entire  universe  in  its 
embrace,  and  confers  visibility  upon  that  which  of  itself  is 
formless. 

(2)  "It  is  so  tenuous  and  subtle  that  it  prevades  every- 
thing, just  as  water  pervades  mire.  It  is  by  Tao  that  mountains 
are  high  and  abysses  deep;  that  beasts  walk  and  birds  fly;  that 


TEH 


153 


the  sun  and  moon  are  bright,  and  the  stars  revolve  in  their 
courses. 

(3)  "  When  the  Spring  winds  blow,  the  sweet  rain  falls, 
and  all  things  live  and  grow.  The  feathered  ones  brood  and 
hatch,  the  furry  ones  breed  and  bear;  plants  and  trees  put 
forth  all  their  glorious  exuberance  of  foliage ;  birds  lay  eggs  and 
animals  produce  their  young;  no  action  is  visible  outwardly, 
and  yet  the  work  is  completed. 

(4)  "  Shadowy  and  indistinct,  it  has  no  form.  Indistinct 
and  shadowy,  its  resources  have  no  end.  Hidden  and  obscure, 
it  reinforces  all  things  out  of  formlessness.  Penetrating  and 
permeating  everything,  it  never  acts  in  vain."  (Religious  Sys- 
tems of  the  World,  F.  H.  Balfour:  Taoism.) 

On  diagram  No.  1  I  have  already  indicated  by  four  terms 
these  four  aspects  of  Tao.  I  called  them  (1)  Substance,  (2) 
Energetic  Power,  (3)  Immanent  Power,  (4)  The  Transcen- 
dental. 

The  fourfoldness  of  manifestation  is  easily  seen  and  is, 
moreover,  indicated  in  diagram  No.  1,  given  with  last  chapter 
and  illustrated  by  me  in  various  ways.  The  same  fourfoldness 
is  seen  in  Teh,  but  instead  of  giving  you  numerous  quotations 
gathered  here  and  there  from  the  Tao-Teh-King,  I  have  sum- 
marized them  in  the  terms:  Life,  Love,  Light,  Will,  inscribed 


Im  Ganzen, 

Guten, 

The  Whole 

The  Good 

ife 

Love 

Light 

*  Will 

The  Beau 

tifal 

Determinate 

work 

Schonen 

DIAGRAM 

NO. 

2. 

Resolut  zu  ] 

eben 

(Gc 

;ethc 

0 

154  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

on  the  square,  (Diagram  No.  2.)  These  four  terms  I  shall  use 
to  describe  the  fourfold  manifestation  of  Teh. 

I  have  also  written  on  this  diagram  (No.  2)  a  German  sen- 
tence from  Goethe:  "Im  Ganzen,  Gut  en,  Schonen  resolut  zu 
leben,"  and  split  the  sentence  into  four  parts,  which  correspond 
to  the  other  four  terms  already  inscribed.  I  have  also  written 
four  words  in  English,  which  represent  the  sense  of  the  German 
words. 

If  you  place  Diagram  No.  2,  Teh,  over  Diagram  No.  1, 
Tao,  the  respective  fours  all  correspond,  and  No.  2  will  be 
seen  to  be  the  psychological  counterpart  to  No.  1  just  as  it 
ought  to  be  if  Teh  is  the  realization  of  Tao. 

So  much  for  the  diagrams  for  the  present.  I  have  said 
that  I  shall  not  now  give  a  number  of  quotations  to  prove  what 
Teh  is.  I  will  instead  give  a  totality  view  of  Teh  and  yet  never 
for  a  moment  swerve  from  my  diagram  (No.  2.) 

To  give  this  totality  view  I  shall  use  a  phrase  from  Goethe: 
"Im  Ganzen,  Guten,  Sclwnen  resolut  zu  leben,"  or  in  English, 
"  to  live  with  determination  in  the  whole,  the  good  and  the 
beautiful."  I  have  chosen  the  phrase  because  it  is  so  apt  and 
because  you  may  hear  it  elsewhere.  It  is  often  quoted  in  phil- 
osophical discussions  in  this  country  and  in  England.  To  live 
in  the  whole,  the  good  and  the  beautiful  implies  an  attention 
to  self,  which  needs  explanation  to  forestall  misunderstanding. 
I  shall  speak  a  great  deal  about  self-realization  in  this  and  the 
next  chapter. 

When  I  speak  of  self-realization  I  must  not  be  understood 
to  mean  self  in  separateness,  self  as  imagining  itself  as  better 
or  higher  than  its  origin,  nor  the  self  that  individually  can  set 
itself  up  against  the  not-self.  Self-realization  in  that  sense 
cannot  be  condemned  too  severely.  The  East  acts  in  harmony 
with  the  West  in  raising  the  condemning  hand  against  it.  Both 
East  and  West  consider  self-realization  in  that  sense  a  sin,  a 
rebellion  against  the  Higher  Self  and  the  order  of  the  universe. 
Self-realization  is  the  distinctive  crime  of  our  own  age  and  per- 
haps no  more  marked  in  any  country  than  in  the  United  States. 
Without  being  a  pessimist  or  a  professional  reformer,  I  predict 
great  trouble  coming  upon  this  age  because  of  its  fall  from  the 
ideal,  the  true  self. 

When  I  speak  of  self  in  a  good  sense  I  mean  the  self  which 
is  a  manifestation,  or  which  approximately  manifests  the  Higher 
Self,   the  Divinity.       Tn  one  sense   Auguste  Comle  spoke  the 


TEH  155 

eternal  truth  when  he  asserted  that  the  old  saying,  "  The 
heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  "  had  lost  its  meaning  and 
that  the  names  of  Hipparchus,  Kepler  and  Newton  meant  much 
more  than  the  starry  heavens.  It  will  be  true,  and  will  be  true 
to  us  all,  when  our  soul  shall  have  become  identified  with  the 
Absolute,  that  the  heavens  no  more  declare  the  glory  of  God,  be- 
cause we  then  shall  have  become  the  souls  of  the  starry  heavens, 
but  now  for  the  present  "  ourselves  "  dare  not  claim  so  much  as 
Comte  claimed.  To  do  so  now  would  be  to  persist  in  a  grievous 
error  and  sin  and  totally  to  misconceive  what  self-realization 
means. 

Self-realization  is  Teh  as  defined  by  Laotzse,  or  that  which 
we  can  do  and  must  do  in  this  present  moment  in  order  to  be 
representations  of  Tao.  Self-realization  means  that  man  be- 
comes the  true  manifestation  of  the  Universal,  whether  we  name 
this  Universal  impersonally  or  personally.  Self-realization 
means  a  perfect  substitution  of  all  that  which  I  in  the  past  have 
called  "  Inner  Life,"  and  all  that  which  this  term  implies;  a 
substitution  of  that  for  all  and  everything  that  can  be  called 
external,  separate  and  individual.  Such  self-realization  does 
not  imply  the  destruction  of  anything  human  of  eternal  value; 
on  the  contrary,  it  means  the  full  blossom  of  humanity.  Our- 
selves at  present,  our  personality,  as  we  call  it,  is  no  more  than 
an  ever  changing  plurality.  When  our  personality  shall  have 
been  cut  down  on  all  its  sharp  edges,  hammered  into  its  inherent 
plan  and  purpose,  and  re-invigorated  with  eternal  life,  then,  and 
first  then,  can  we  talk  about  "  realized  selves,"  about  self- 
realization  accomplished.  Then  we  are  eternal  units.  Until 
then  we  can  only  dream  about  the  accomplishment  of  that  high 
and  ultimate  ideal.  Such  dreams  will  pass  before  your  vision  in 
my  present  discourse ;  no  more. 

I  propose  to  claim  that  Goethe's  phrase,  "  To  live  deter- 
minedly in  the  whole,  in  the  good  and  in  the  beautiful,"  is  a 
very  good  transcription  of  the  meaning  of  Teh.  Goethe  did 
not  know  either  Tao  or  Teh  of  the  Tao-Teh-King,  hence  did  not 
use  the  phrase  in  the  sense  I  do.  But  that  does  not  matter. 
The  sentence  is  full  of  meaning  just  in  the  line  of  my  discourse, 
and  I  shall  use  it  with  entire  freedom. 

I  will  use  the  four  parts  of  it  in  their  natural  succession 
and  as  arranged  on  the  diagram.  They  stand  grouped  around 
Teh  because  they  in  the  square  represent  the  outer,  while  Teh 
represents  the  inner,  whenoe  they  have  sprung. 


156  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

By  "im  Ganzen' '  "in  the  whole,"  in  general,  I  shall  under- 
stand To  Pan  "the  All"  as  a  unit,  both  as  known  scientifically 
and  as  known  intuitively;  both  objectively,  subjectively  and 
transcendentally;  "  the  All,"  both  personally  as  God  and  im- 
personally as  the  universe;  both  as  life  and  as  death,  and  "  the 
AH"  in  all  forms  and  moods  indefinable. 

By  living  "  im  Ganzen,"  "  in  the  whole,"  I  shall  under- 
stand to  live  "  in  consciousness  of  the  whole";  the  very  opposite 
of  living  in  "  separateness  "  or  isolation  from  it. 

How  can  we  live  determinedly  "  with  a  will  "in"  the  All  " 
such  as  I  have  attempted  to  suggest  what  "  the  All  "  may  be  1 
I  will  use  an  illustration.  This  candle  may  suggest  the  ideal  I 
(See  Diagram  3.) 

I  shall,  of  course,  be  able  only  to  show  "the  All  "  in  one 
aspect.  I  will  show  it  as  light  or  truth ;  light  or  truth  as  qual- 
ity ;  light  or  truth  as  form  and  judge ;  as  the  ordering  principle 
in  existence;  or  as  I  also  shall  call  it,  the  Apollo,  and  the  Christ 
principle.  While  I  thus  only  show  one  aspect,  that  aspect  will 
suggest  the  Whole. 


DIAGRAM  3. 


TEH  157 

My  text  is  this  candle.  How  does  it  illustrate  ?  I  will 
show  you  and  show  it  in  the  psychological  process  of  develop- 
ment, leaving  out  all  other  views. 

(1)  The  wax  (tallow)  represents  the  sub-conscious  exist- 
ence of  the  soul  and  corresponds  to  soil  for  the  plant.  The 
sub-conscious  existence  is  the  sum  total  of  all  the  soul's  fore- 
gone life,  good,  bad  and  indifferent.  It  is  made  up  of  natural 
qualities,  of  the  soul's  magical  experiences,  of  its  recollections, 
its  karma,  its  struggles,  failures  and  triumphs.  The  light  of 
the  candle  is  according  to  the  quality  of  the  tallow.  And  the 
form  of  embodied  Teh  is  according  to  the  quality  of  the  natural 
basis  upon  which  it  rests. 

(2)  The  taper  makes  it  possible  for  the  tallow  to  burn 
steadily  and  usefully. 

In  the  psychological  life  the  taper  represents  conscious- 
ness, such  as  it  is  developed  by  education.  The  Teh  appears 
in  the  consciousness  of  a  Laotzse,  a  Plato,  a  Buddha,  as  well 
as  in  a  Congo  negro — but  how  differently! 

(3)  The  black  core  is  heat,  and  the  not  yet  fully  consumed 
taper  and  tallow.  It  therefore  represents  sub-consciousness 
and  also  the  more  or  less  developed  consciousness ;  let  me  call  it 
self-consciousness.  Self-consciouness  in  a  good  sense  is  a  step 
beyond  consciousness  and  one  toward  spirituality  or  freedom. 
The  black  core  is  Teh  in  a  glow,  or  what  Frederik  Hegel  would 
call  "  diremption,"  a  state  of  interior  struggle  for  full  self- 
realization  and  dominion  over  the  Not-Me,  or  the  objective 
world. 

(4)  The  yellow  light  represents  what  is  understood  by  the 
phrase  "  the  soul  is  the  candle  of  the  Lord";  that  is,  the  Teh  is 
fully  born  in  the  soul,  though  not  yet  fully  developed.  In  this 
degree  the  night  or  the  Law,  the  Path,  is  receding  and  the  "Sun 
of  righteousness  is  arising  with  salvation  on  his  wings."  In 
human  psychological  development  it  is  that  stage  in  which  we 
begin  truly  to  say  "  I  " — that  marvellous  word  ! 

(5)  The  white  light  represents  the  full  illumination.  Indi- 
viduality or  separateness  has  vanished  and  the  pure  soul  spreads 
its  beneficent  light  and  warmth  round  about.  The  Teh  has  not 
only  taken  the  place  of  all  law  or  the  path  or  objectivity,  but 
law  or  path  has  been  completed  by  being  dissolved  and  trans- 
muted into  it. 

(6)  The  diffused  light  is  Tao  and  Teh,  or  Divinity  in  All, 
and  All  lifted  into  heavenlv  blessedness. 


158  THE  INNER  LITE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KINQ 

Here  then  are  revealed  six  psychological  stages,  or  six 
stages  of  Teh's  inner  nature.  No  amount  of  quotations  or  defi- 
nitions could  illustrate  it  as  fully  and  as  easily  as  a  lighted 
candle.  Light  a  candle  at  home  and  sit  down  quietly  to  medi- 
tate, and  you  shall  find  the  candle  a  master  guru,  a  sage. 

The  candle  burns  in  simplicity  and  stillness  such  as  you  have 
heard  these  two  words  explained  in  the  past  chapters. 

All  this  is  not  only  psychologically  true,  but  also  historic- 
ally. 

(1)  The  wax  or  tallow  is  the  Orient,  say  China,  or  man- 
kind's unconscious  will,  the  soil  in  which  grows  all  the  coming 
civilization. 

(2)  The  taper  is  the  dawning  life.  For  instance,  in  India 
and  Assyria  and  Egypt. 

(3)  The  black  core  is  Greek  consciousness. 

(4)  The  yellow  light  is  the  Hebrew  awakening  in  the 
Messiah. 

(5)  The  white  light  is  primitive  Christianity  ,  and 

(6)  The  diffused  light  is  that  realization  of  the  union  of 
God  and  Man,  " perfected  humanity,"  Teh,  which  is  yet  to  come. 

Again  I  call  your  attention  to  the  former  chapter,  in  which 
I  drew  a  parallelogram  enclosing  a  geographical  sphere,  within 
which  was  shown  the  life  of  our  cycle  and  the  people  who  rep- 
resented it.  By  comparison  you  will  see  further  confirmation 
of  the  assertions  I  made  at  the  time. 

Though  this  last,  the  " perfect  humanity,"  Teh  is  yet  to 
come,  history  fully  proves  that  Teh  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  law 
of  evolution,  both  the  natural  and  the  moral  law.  And  that  it 
is  the  fulfilment  means  that  where  Teh  is  dominant,  there  the 
law  or  path,  the  isolating  principle  in  the  evolution,  has  vanished 
because  it  has  been  transmuted  into  a  higher  reality  ! 

In  this  candle  you  have  an  illustration  of  one  mode  of  exist- 
ence of  "  the  All,"  the  mode  of  light,  Teh  as  light.  The  com- 
parison of  soul  to  a  light  or  candle  is  a  common  figure  of  speech 
in  all  occult  lore.  There  are  many  reasons  for  it;  too  many, 
however,  to  enumerate  here.  Your  own  intuitions  can  easily 
supply  them. 

Realize  the  different  stages  of  the  light;  the  tallow  or  wax, 
the  taper,  the  black  core,  the  yellow  light,  the  white  light,  the 
diffused  light  in  your  own  existence;  live  them  all  freely  and 
fully  at  the  same  time,  and  you  realize  self — that  is,  that  you  are 


teh's  nature  159 

a  universal  self,  not  an  isolated  one,  not  one  standing  apart 
and  dying. 

This  is  the  ideal  !  How  to  do  it  in  particulars  in  actual 
life? 

2. 

By  "  im  Ganzen,"  "  in  the  whole,"  specially,  I  shall  under- 
stand to  holon  (totum),  the  idea  of  experience  as  a  collection,  a 
special  kind  of  whole.  In  contradistinction  to  "  the  All  "  in 
general,  this  conception  implies  something  that  is  changeable. 
Nature,  (natura,  physis,  prakriti)  for  instance,  is  such  a  con- 
ception; the  word  "  Nature  "  implies  all  sense  perceptions  of 
objects  in  the  outer  world  and  the  variability  of  these  objects. 
We  ourselves,  as  we  actually  are,  are  such  a  changeable  form  of 
the  All.    We  grow ! 

Realizing  this  changeable  nature,  many  of  us  have  fallen 
into  the  grievous  error  of  running  about  asking  for  salvation, 
as  if  salvation  had  anything  to  do  with  self-realization.Salvation 
is  given  to  all  !    We  never  were  anything  else  than  saved  ! 

What  we  want  is  to  assert  our  God-likeness  and  God-call, 
to  realize  "  I  am  that  I  am."  Let  us  assert:  (1)  "A  cosmos 
I  am,"  both  nature  and  spirit,  therefore  I  claim  the  perfect 
body  and  perfect  spirit. 

(2)  Let  man  realize  the  woman  in  him — let  women  realize 
the  man  in  themselves. 

(3)  Trust  in  thine  own  untried  capacity 
As  thou  wouldst  trust  in  God  himself. 
Thou  dost  not  dream  what  forces  lie  in  thee, 
Vast  and  unfathomed  as  the  grandest  sea. 
No  man  shall  place  a  limit  to  thy  strength; 
Such  triumphs  as  no  mortal  ever  gained 
May  yet  be  thine  if  thou  wilt  but  believe 
In  .  .  .  thyself. 

(E.W.Wilcox.) 

Such  ideas  are  the  power  of  "  the  All,"  and  they  lead  life 
to  sovereign  power  !  They  are  of  the  form  of  the  new  con- 
sciousness ! 

3 

By  "im  Guten,"  "in  the  good,"  in  a  general  sense,  I  shall 
understand   (agathon-bonum),  that  which  is  the  final  aim  and 


160  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

end  of  all  ethical  action,  both  externally  and  spiritually.  The 
good  in  this  sense  is  synonymous  with  deity,  the  ultimate  ground, 
not  only  of  moral  activity,  but  of  all  reality.  It  is  the  cosmic  and 
ethic  principle,  and  this  more  closely  denned  as  love. 

By  living  "  im  Guten,"  "  in  the  good,"  I  shall  understand 
living  in  consciousness  of  the  soul's  essential  identity  with  the 
good  or  God  (the  very  opposite  of  "  evil,"  such  as  for  instance 
Shakespeare's  Richard  III.  declares  it  to  be  his  principle.) 

How  do  we  live  determinately,  with  a  will,  in  this  condition  ? 

Here  again  I  shall  fall  back  upon  an  illustration,  and  the 
suggestion  that  comes  from  the  illustration.  (See  Diagram 
No.  4.) 

This  flower  shall  be  the  suggester.  It  shall  represent  love, 
the  good.  Under  the  form  of  those  terms  it  is  full  of  sugges- 
tions. As  I  did  before,  when  I  recommended  the  candle  as  a 
master  guru,  so  now  I  recommend  a  living  flower.  The  facts 
here  are  the  pot  and  the  plant,  but  these  facts  are  not  the  flower 
or  Teh.  (A)  The  flower  or  Teh,  (1),  is  that  passion  which 
gripped  the  seed  and  forced  it  out  of  itself,  and  (2)  that  passion 
in  the  sub-conscious  which  drew  it  into  its  womb,  the  soil,  and 
(3)  that  passion  which  here  blossoms  before  you,  and  (4)  that 
passion  or  "  cosmic  emotion  "  which  reaches  from  this  plant  in 
phenomenal  appearance  to  your  image-building  power;  that 
passion  which  connects  the  two,  and  (5)  that  passion  or  "  cosmic 
consciousness  "  which  turns  away  from  the  sun's  light  (which 
is  conditioned  by  earth  atmosphere)  and  hastens  inward  towards 
a  sphere,  which  is  its  infinite  antecedents,  and  it  is  (6)  a  passion 
that  seeks  its  own,  its  own  family  marks  in  intensity,  not  in 
immensity;  it  is  eternal  being. 

(13)  The  flower  or  Teh  in  symbol  is  also  the  trembling 
stem.  If  you  could  have  seen  concentrated  into  a  few  moments 
the  growth  that  took  time,  you  would  have  seen  and  heard  har- 
monies built  upon  harmonies,  visible  melody,  an  outward  rush- 
ing, an  uplift,  and  an  inward  "  coming  to  be."     That  is  Teh. 

(C)  And  finally  the  flower  or  Teh  in  symbol  are  the  blos- 
soms. What  is  a  blossom  ?  Nature  baring  her  bosom,  show- 
ing her  beauty  !     Did  you  ever  see  blossoms  ? 

Plants  are  passions,  torrents  of  "Teh,"  sometimes  in 
minor  key,  mournful  and  melancholy;  sometimes  fast  and  ani- 
mated; sometimes  a  murmur,  and  sometimes  a  roar;  always  wild 
children,  though  they  look  so  quiet.  Do  not  misunderstand!  Do 
not  think  of  human  passions,  those  self-destructive  fires  !     Teh 


"in  the  good"  161 

as  passion  is  not  a  destructive  fire.  The  central  idea  of  the 
word  passion  in  its  origin  is  suffering.  Teh  is  Tao  incarnated 
in  the  world,  and  therefore  "  suffering,"  therefore  full  of  pain, 
but  always  animated. 

The  root  of  the  plant  is  the  eternal  "  being  "  of  Teh;  the 
stem  is  "  the  coming  to  be  ";  the  blossom  is  revelation  in  all 
fullness,  in  all  fulfilment. 

But  this  is  hard  of  comprehension.  Let  me  therefore  for 
Teh  substitute  a  living  idea,  such  as  that  of  Jesus,  for  instance, 
and  you  shall  see  Teh  before  your  eyes. 

Jesus  is  not  a  man,  but  type  of  a  passional  movement.  His 
life  resembles  a  passional  movement  like  that  of  a  flower. 

The  story  of  Jesus  is  like  this:  (1)  He  strikes  roots  in 
oriental  earth.  He  is  Oriental,  not  European  or  American. 
(2)  He  is  from  Abraham;  that  is,  Abrahm  (out-of-Brahm.)  So 
is  a  flower  out-of-Brahm,  substance. 

(3)  The  story  of  Jesus  breaks  fully  through  in  the  Law  by 
Moses,  in  the  Song  by  David,  in  the  shadow  pictures  by  Isaiah. 
(4)  The  story  rises  to  consciousness  in  classical  culture.What 
is  culture  but  the  breaking  through  the  soil,  that  the  flower 
and  blossom  may  appear!  It  was  Jesus  breaking  with  the  ex- 
isting bondage  that  awakened  his  consciousness  of  a  call,  and  his 


Diagram  4. 


162  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

call  became  the  flower  of  his  life.  (5)  Finally  the  story  blos- 
soms in  the  New  Testament,  and  the  blossom  is  an  at-one-ing,  a 
redeeming  note  of  love,  passion  and  despair  in  harmony;  fulness, 
fulfilling  the  whole  past  course.  And  that  blossom  was  the 
revelation  of  the  purpose  of  the  whole  movement.  The  history 
of  Teh. 

(6)  The  flower  is  bewildering  in  its  majesty  and  seductive 
in  its  calm;  and  so  is  the  story  of  Jesus,  overwhelming  in  his 
declaration  of  the  oneness  of  the  Almighty,  the  Allgood,  the 
Allwise  and  the  Soul.  ("  The  father  and  I  are  one.")  And  a 
flower  plant  is  just  such  oneness.  The  plant  is  neither  the 
root,  the  stem,  the  leaves,  the  blossom,  but  all  these  in  one.  Teh 
is  not  any  special  act.     The  life  story  of  the  soul  is  Teh. 

No  wonder  that  Jesus  of  the  legend  so  often  dealt  with 
plants  and  referred  to  nature's  harmonies.  He  felt  himself  to 
be  "  God  with  us,"  or  the  present  nature.  He  is  Teh  or  enthus- 
iasm, a  plant  that  grows  everywhere  in  the  universe. 

Jesus  is  not  a  scientific  fact,  nor  a  man,  nor  a  thought.  He 
is  great  passion — enthusiasm.  Enthusiasm  translated  from 
Greek  thought  to  Hebrew  thought  gives  us  the  Greek  word  Jesus 
as  Jehovah-Hosea,  and  that  contracted  is  Jehosuah,  and  that 
translated  into  English  is  "  God  with  us."  Jesus  thus  is  an 
expression  for  Teh  in  you  and  me. 

Without  passion  or  enthusiasm  we  shall  never  understand 
the  mystery  of  Jesus.  No  belief  or  Bible  study  will  reveal  the 
mystery. 

Teh  seen  as  Jesus  is  the  voice  of  Tao  calling  in  "  the  cool 
of  the  evening"  upon  the  sinner,  and  is  also  the  bell  to  morning 
prayer  and  adoration. 

Jesus  is  no  mere  man,  he  is  love ;  he  is  Teh,  a  present  God. 
I  see  him  wherever  there  is  life  and  love,  light  and  law;  in  the 
landscape,  in  the  boisterous  and  wild  ocean,  in  the  calm  starlit 
night;  in  the  amorous  lines  of  the  human  body;  in  the  monoto- 
nous beat  of  an  Indian's  drum,  in  an  axiom  of  Euclid;  in  the 
bended  back  that  carries  the  hoe;  yes,  I  hear  his  cry  in  the  fac- 
tory and  the  prison. 

The  Jesus  idea  was  familiar  to  the  ancient  world.  It  meant 
passion,  color,  enthusiasm,  and  resembles  the  Dionysios  idea,  if 
we  look  for  pictures  in  Greek  life;  not  Bacchus,  the  drunkard, 
but  Dionysios  of  the  Orphic  Mysteries.  It  is  worth  your  while 
to  study  this  aspect  of  the  Jesus  idea.  It  reveals  Teh  as  an 
evolutionary  foreo,  and  Teh  will  be  seen  to  be  the  root  idea  of 


jesus  163 

religion,  science,  poetry  and  philosophy.  It  wili  also  give  the 
true  understanding  of  the  desperately  misunderstood  idea  of 
incarnation. 

If  we  look  for  parallels  to  the  Christ  idea  we  find  an  ex- 
cellent one  in  the  Greek  Apollo.  That,  too,  would  be  for  all  a 
most  useful  study.  It  will  reveal  the  inter-relationship  of  the 
idea  Jesus  and  Christ,  Teh  and  Tao. 

The  Jewish-Christian  converts  thought  of  Christ  very  much 
as  the  Dorian  Greeks  thought  of  Apollo.  Apollo  to  the  Greek 
was  the  god  of  law,  order  or  righteousness,  the  chief  of  the  polls, 
or  city  government,  and  the  revenger  of  all  infractions.  Apollon- 
ism  in  Doric  aspects  is  much  like  Paulinism  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. 

The  Attic  Greeks,  on  the  other  hand,  understood  Apollo 
very  nearly  like  the  Christ  of  St.  John's  Gospel.  Apollo  to 
them  was  the  aesthetic  and  plastic  element  in  existence.  He 
was  god  of  music  or  rhythm,  and  the  ideal  of  beauty,  the  god 
of  reason,  Logos — the  same  names  are  given  the  Christ.  Ap- 
ollonism  in  Attic  aspect  is  very  much  like  Johanism  of  the  New 
Testament.  In  both  aspects  there  is  a  strong  parallelism  be- 
tween the  Apollo  idea  and  the  Christ  idea. 

4. 

By  "  im  Guten  "  "  in  the  good,"  in  a  special  sense,  I  shall 
understand  to  mean  a  thing  possessing  worth. 

The  various  races  and  the  changing  times  have  varying 
ideas  about  "  the  highest  good."  The  new  consciousness,  that 
of  the  New  Ages,  realizes  its  idea  of  the  good  by  fulfilling  its 
own  law.  Our  own  law  tells  us  that  our  everlasting,  joyous  and 
undeniable  duty  is  to  impress  our  stamp  upon  others.  Our  self- 
sacrifice  is  therefore  not  negative,  as  the  old  law  was,  but  it  is 
positive.  In  passional  activity  we  and  the  New  Age  fulfill  the 
ideal  of  the  flower,  of  Teh.  Passional  activity  is  a  magic 
phrase,  but  easily  understood  in  the  light  of  what  I  have  said. 
It  was  said  of  Jesus:  "  He  went  about  and  did  good  !  "  For 
us  it  does  not  merely  mean  laboring  to  do  good,  but  also  to  show 
the  example,  to  inspire  by  presence. 

5. 

Thus  far  I  have  shown  Teh  in  the  process  of  "  self-realiza- 
tion," ''im  Ganzen"  (the  All),  under  aspect  of  the  Christ  or 
light,  by  means  of  a  candle;  and  "im  Guten"  under  aspect  of 


164  THE  INNER  LITE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KINQ 

Jesus  or  love,  and  by  means  of  a  flower.  It  remains  to  show 
Teh  "im  Schonen."  I  shall  try  to  do  it  by  still  another  illustra- 
tion, the  ocean.  I  will  show  the  ocean  under  the  aspect  of 
beauty,  the  sublime. 

The  ocean  is  the  most  uncertain  and  unstable  of  all  things 
in  the  world,  and  so  is  beauty,  in  spite  of  appearance.  And  so 
is  Teh.  Yet  both  ocean,  beauty  and  Teh  impress  us  constantly 
with  the  idea  of  "  eternity,  immensity  and  power."  I  will  try 
to  show  it. 

My  description  of  the  traits  of  the  ocean  are  taken  from 
Richard  Henry  Stoddard's  "Hymn  to  the  Sea." 

"Thou  wert  before  the  continents,  before 
The  hollow  heavens,  which,  like  another  sea, 
Encircles  them  and  Thee;  but  whence  Thou  wert 
And  when  Thou  wast  created,  is  not  known." 

"  The  self  "  or  soul  that  has  been  in  the  trance  of  beauty 
or  Teh  and  identified  itself  with  it,  knows  beauty  or  Teh  as  being 
eternal  like  love,  and  beauty  is  love's  form.  The  three,  love 
and  beauty  and  Teh,  are  inseparable  and  encircling  the  earth 
and  sky — yea,  reaching  beyond!  The  soul  perceives  this  and  is 
itself  such  a  far-reaching  power.  Beauty's  or  Teh's  origin  is 
not  known  outside  of  the  soul.    Nor  is  the  origin  of  soul  known. 

"  Antiquity  was  young  when  Thou  wast  old. 
There  is  no  limit  to  Thy  strength,  no  end 
To  Thy  magnificence." 

Antiquity  is  of  time;  beauty  or  Teh  has  no  limit  to  its 
strength.  Already  Plato  had  discovered  that  when  "  justice  " 
and  wisdom,  and  all  other  things  that  are  held  in  honor,  find  no 
avenue  to  the  soul,  beauty  has  still  some  passage  and  entrance. 
The  soul  and  Teh  have  entrance  where  no  law  can  penetrate. 
What  grand  personality  the  ocean  manifests  !  It  is  the  soul  or 
Teh  in  form  unknown  to  science  and  philosophy  ! 

"  Thou  goest  forth 

On  thy  long  journeys  to  remotest  lands, 

And  comest  back  unwearied." 

Flow  could  beauty  or  Teh  ever  weary  ?  Beauty's  smile 
never  yawns.  Beauty's  virginal  lines  never  jade  and  beauty's 
untiring  colors  arc  never  exhausted.  Neither  is  Teh  weary  or 
getting  old;  is  over  young  blood.     There  is  Teh  or  beauty  of 


THE  SEA  165 

soul  that  never  dies ;  there  is  Teh  or  beauty  on  tropic  isles  and 
Arctic  icebergs;  in  "  the  sullen  sorrow  of  the  sky,"  and  the 
"  laughter  of  the  Sun  ";  Teh  or  beauty  is  the  constitutive  ele- 
ment.    Try  to  separate  them  if  you  can. 
"Thou  art  terrible 

In  thy  tempestuous  moods,  when  the  loud  winds 
Precipitate  their  strength  against  the  waves." 

Ah,  who  thought  beauty  was  only  "the  long,  slow  rolling 
summer  days  on  beaches  far  away  ?  "  Surely  they  have  never 
seen  "  a  soul  on  fire,"  nor  heard  of  Apollo's  arrows  or  cowered 
under  Athena's  stern  face,  nor  ever  experienced  Teh's  demands 
upon  the  soul.  They  have  never  understood  life's  set  purpose 
with  us. 

"  The  heavens  look  down  and  see  themselves  in  Thee. 
And  splendors  seen  not  elsewhere." 

Yea,  so  it  is !  Teh  is  magnificent !  The  angels  are  desirous 
of  knowing  the  mystery  of  a  soul.  They  are  themselves  only 
naked  spirits  desiring  body.  The  heavens  see  their  own  color 
in  the  ocean.  The  angels  see  splendors  not  seen  elsewhere. 
But  men  experience  Teh  ! 

Should  we  not  rejoice  in  Teh,  in  Beauty;  our  Teh,  our 
Beauty  !     Beauty  or  Teh  of  body,  Beauty  or  Teh  of  soul  ! 

"  Thine  the  silent,  happy,  awful  night, 
When  over  Thee  and  Thy  charmed  waves  the  moon 
Rides  high " 

When  the  poet  here  speaks  of  the  silent,  happy,  awful  night, 
we  think  only  of  conditions  that  are  without  sound,  but  not 
without  voice.  The  night,  the  self,  the  ocean,  Teh  are  never 
without  voice,  though  sometimes  silent.  Teh  or  Beauty  is  the 
voice  that  calls  all  creation  to  come  forth.  The  voice,  the  word, 
is  the  incarnated  love.     Beauty  !     Teh  ! 

The  poet  finally  starts  in  to  talk  about  death,  but  corrects 
himself  at  once  and  exclaims: 

" Xo  ! 


There  is  no  death.     The  thing  that  we  call  death 
Is  but  another,  sadder  name  for  life, 
Which  is  itself  an  insufficient  name, 
Faint  recognition  of  that  unknown  life, — 
That  power  whose  shadow  is  the  universe." 


166  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Yes,  "  shadow  "  is  the  word  !  Shadow  paints  Teh,  beauty, 
by  contrast.     Teh  is  not  death  !     Teh  is  life  and  always  was  I 

I  think  I  have  said  sufficient  to  suggest  what  self-realization, 
"im  Schonen,"  is.  Where  are  there  such  worshippers  of 
beauty?  Where  can  they  be  found?  A  religion  of  beauty  is  as 
much  a  necessity  for  us  as  a  religion  of  goodness,  or  forms  that 
embrace  the  whole. 

How  much  there  is  still  to  be  done  before  our  humanity  can 
reflect  Tao  as  Teh !  How  much  before  my  diagrams  can  be  said 
to  be  line  drawings  of  our  ways  of  life! 

6. 

By  "im  Schonen,"  in  a  special  sense,  I  shall  understand 
any  one  of  the  innumerable  terms  of  love,  which  we  may  be  at- 
tracted to  individually,  or  which  may  be  our  form  or  plan  of 
life.  I  need  not  detail  the  thought.  Pictures  of  beauty  hover 
before  your  imagination.    Realize  one  of  them  ! 

By  "  resolut  zu  leben,"  I  shall  in  general  understand  to  live 
determinately,  or  according  to  the  whole  trend  or  plan  of  our 
life  as  we  know  it,  both  in  consciousness  and  conscience. 

We  need  resolutely  to  assert  our  God-likeness  ! 

Finally  I  must,  at  least,  indicate  the  special  mode  of  "  living 
determinedly."  Again  I  will  substitute  a  picture  for  the 
abstract  term  Teh.  You  can  see  the  picture  in  the  book  that 
contains  the  Christ  poem.  The  Christ  idea  is  the  determined 
realization  of  the  whole,  the  good,  the  beautiful,  thus: 

(1)  The  Christ  "  is  the  principle  in  whom  all  things  stand 
together,"  as  it  was  said  in  Paul's  letter  to  the  Collossians. 

(2)  Jesus  said:  "I  and  the  Father  are  one." 

(3)  All  the  parables  are  in  the  Beautiful. 

(4)  Finally  "the  determinate  living"  is  expressed  by 
"  faithful  unto  death." 

You  are  familiar  with  these  expressions.  They  all  contain 
the  conception  Teh. 


LIFE,  LOVE,  LIGHT  AND  WILL 
XL 

IN  the  last  chapter  I  described  how  to  live  the  life  which  is  of 
Teh  by  using  a  phrase  of  Goethe's:  "Im  Ganzen,  Guten, 
Schbnen  resolut  zu  leben."      I  will  now  show  how  this  four- 
fold life  connects  with  corresponding  powers  within  our  own 
constitution,  and,  that  this  corresponding  fourfoldness  makes  it 
not  only  possible,  but  easy  to  live  with  determination  in  the 
Whole,  the  Good  and  the  Beautiful. 

On  Diagram  II.  I  designate  the  four  inherent  powers  as 
Life,  Love,  Light  and  determined  Will.  The  terms  are  entirely 
my  own,  and  not  used  by  anybody  else,  as  far  as  I  know.  I  have 
used  them  for  many  years  in  my  studies  of  the  subject,  but  I 
would  not  lay  any  special  weight  upon  them.  Other  terms  may 
be  as  suitable  and  perhaps  convey  the  same  ideas.  What  I  do 
mean  by  them  I  shall  explain,  and,  I  shall  hope  that  you  for 
yourself  will  substitute  other  terms  if  you  have  such  and  if 
they  convey  to  you  the  ideas  I  intend  to  express.  The  main 
point  is  the  idea  or  the  psychological  fact,  not  the  name  we  give 
the  fact. 

These  four  terms  inscribed  in  the  respective  four  corners 
of  Diagram  II.  represent  ideas  connected  with  the  ancient  classi- 
fication of  temperaments  into  four  groups,  usually  attributed 
to  Hippocrates:  the  sanguine,  choleric,  melancholic  and  phleg- 
matic. I  say  ideas  distinctly  connected  with  this  classification, 
because  I  do  not  bind  myself  to  it  nor  do  I  think  that  classifica- 
tion exhaustive.  However,  defective  as  it  is,  it  serves  admirably 
for  a  broad  classification  of  our  congenital  constitution,  and  it 
has  the  advantage  of  being  biological.  We  get  the  best  psy- 
chology where  we  begin  biologically,  on  sure  foundations  in  na- 
ture. Moreover,  back  of  these  four  temperaments  lie  the  ele- 
ments fire,  air,  earth,  water,  such  as  the  ancients  named  them, 
and,  also  the  four  forms  of  the  spiritual  world:  supreme  good- 


168  THE  INNElt  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

ness,  nous,  psyche,  hyle,  and,  also  the  influences  from  the  four 
corners  of  the  universe. 

Our  bodily  constitution  gives  a  bias  to  our  disposition,  and 
that  bias  is  usually  called  temperament  and  distinguished  in  a 
four  fold  way  as  sanguinic,  choleric,  melancholic  and  phlegmatic. 
Temperament  is  nothing  else  than  a  predominant  characteristic 
of  our  natural  inclinations  and  tendencies,  and  the  four  names 
I  have  put  on  the  diagram  are  simply  my  transcriptions  of  the 
four  terms:  sanguinic,  choleric,  melancholic  and  phlegmatic, 
which  I  have  not  put  down  on  the  diagram,  because  I  wanted  to 
avoid  the  confusion  that  was  apt  to  arise  if  I  wrote  too  much  on 
it.  I  only  mention  this  about  the  temperaments  to  give  you  a 
clue  to  my  terms :  life,  love,  light  and  will,  and  to  indicate  that 
I  begin  in  biology,  the  true  psychological  basis.  Besides  the 
four  terms  I  have  used,  there  are  others  which  I  might  have 
written  on  the  diagram,  but  which  I  also  have  left  out  in  order 
to  avoid  confusion.  You  can  readily  add  them  yourself  if  you 
wish. 

Among  such  terms  are  those  of  a  four-foldness  described 
in  Paul's  letter  to  the  Ephesians  (Eph.  4.11-15).  Paul  speaks 
of  the  appointment  of  apostles,  prophets,  evangelists  and  pas- 
toral teachers,  who  were  set  in  the  church  in  order  to  perfect 
the  saints,  to  build  up  the  church,  that  all  might  attain  to  the 
unity  of  faith  and  grow  to  be  full  grown  men  and  no  more  be 
children  driven  by  any  and  every  wind  of  doctrine.  That  which 
Paul  here  describes  as  the  order  of  the  ministry  of  the  early 
church  is  admirable  psychology.  If  we  understand  what  apos- 
tles, prophets,  evangelists  and  pastoral  teachers  mean,  the  whole 
psychological  system  of  the  Path  and  of  Teh,  as  understood  by 
Paul,  is  marvellous  in  its  simplicity.      I  will  try  to  elucidate. 

The  apostolic  power  is  the  spirit  in  rational  preeminence. 
It  is  the  power  that  has  the  eye  upon  the  Whole,  both  in  its 
outer  features  and  in  its  inner.  It  is  the  embodiment  of  Logos- 
Reason  or  the  fundamental  human  power  which  is  the  spring 
of  all  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  manifestations.  In  the  apos- 
tolic power  there  is  something  dominant  like  that  silent  but 
weighty  force  which  the  earth  exhibits  everywhere.  In  the 
catacombs,  the  apostle's  symbol  is  a  lion  and  his  robe  is  yellow, 
like  liif  earth  under  the  burning  sun  in  the  Orient.  The  apos- 
t"  ••  character  lies  in  the  first  Kabbalistic  world  of  Aziah,  the 
world  of  activity  or  earth. 

The  prophetic  power  spoken  of  is  the  "Wisdom-power  or,  as 


THE  PROPHET  AND  EVANGELIST.  169 

the  classical  people  called  it,  the  Hermes.  Hermes  was  mes- 
senger from  the  Highest  and  his  nature  was  represented  as 
being  that  of  the  Wind,  a  term  which  to  the  ancients  was  synony- 
mous with  Spirit.  The  prophet  was  not  a  soothsayer  but  a 
divine  messenger  or  witness.  In  the  ancient  church  he  was  the 
preacher  or  which  was  the  same  the  witness,  the  witness  or  pro- 
claimer  of  the  divine  truth.  The  prophet  was  a  soil  of  execu- 
tive officer  of  the  Spirit.  The  ancient  symbol  used  as  an  ex- 
pression for  his  office  was  an  eagle  and  usually  shown  on  blue 
felt,  clearly  indicative  of  his  soaring  spirit.  The  prophetic  char- 
acter lies  in  the  second  Kabbalistic  world  of  Yetzirah,  the  world 
of  formation. 

The  evangelist  is  also  a  messenger,  but  one  sent  by  an 
authority,  not  directly  from  heaven  like  the  prophet.  The  evange- 
list is  the  man  with  the  large  warm  heart  who  goes  out  into  the 
world  with  the  "glad  tidings"  and  who  brings  milk  and  honey 
to  the  hungry.  His  symbol  is  double.  He  is  represented  by 
the  "human  face  divine"  back  of  him,  and  with  the  figure  of  an 
ass  at  his  side.  The  idea  being  that  he  has  human  feeling  as 
motive  power  and  also  the  steadiness,  ye,  obstinacy  of  the  ass, 
that  will  not  be  driven  away  by  stripes,  and,  which  morever 
is  satisfied  to  eat  that  on  the  fields  which  the  ox  or  other  animals 
will  not  eat.  The  evangelistic  character  lies  in  the  third  Kab- 
balistic world,  the  world  of  Brian,  the  world  of  creation. 

The  pastoral  teacher  is  symbolically  represented  as  the  pa- 
tient ox  on  the  threshing  floor  in  the  East,  which  treads  out  the 
corn  by  steady  and  patient  walking  round  and  round.  This 
symbol  explains  him  as  the  more  or  less  phlegmatic  or  patient 
teacher  who  by  persistent  labor  brings  out  the  fruit  in  the  pupil, 
who  is  being  trained  in  spiritual  life.  He  is  not  original  like 
the  prophet,  nor  authoritative  like  the  apostle,  nor  fiery  like  the 
evangelist,  but  he  is  really  the  cornerstone  in  the  spiritual  edi- 
fice, for  what  does  all  the  work  of  the  other  offices  amount  to, 
if  the  teaching  pastor  did  not  teach  the  initiate  how  to  masti- 
cate and  assimilate?  The  pastor  and  teachers'  character  lies 
in  the  fourth  Kabbalistic  world,  the  world  of  Atziloth,  the 
archetypal  world. 

Reviewing  the  four  offices  as  now  described,  you  can  readily 
see  the  truth  of  Paul's  statement,  that  they  are  necessary  for 
full  growth,  for  unity  and  perfection,  not  only  in  an  outer  organi- 
zation made  up  of  people  of  the  four  temperaments,  but  also 


170  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

in  each  one  of  us.  Though  we  have  only  one  temperament  pre- 
dominant, we  have  the  other  three  in  less  degree  and  they  need 
training  and  guidance  as  much  as  the  one  which  is  dominant. 
I  shall  come  back  to  this  fourfoldness  at  the  end  of  this  chapter 
and  make  a  personal  application  of  it. 

The  square  represents  man  as  a  temple.  The  square  is 
ethically  an  emblem  of  sincerity;  it  means  wholeness,  health  and 
harmony  on  a  plane  of  life  different  from  that  of  nature.  The 
circle,  the  line  that  runs  into  itself,  stands  for  similar  perfec- 
tions in  nature.  The  square  in  the  sense  I  use  it  was  discovered, 
or  at  any  rate  is  credited,  to  operative  Masonry  and  Free- 
Masonry.  The  circle  could  not  be  used  as  a  symbol  for  temple, 
and  has  not  been  used,  because  a  temple  is  not  a  nature-product; 
a  temple  is  a  human  symbol  for  a  human  creative  act.  The 
word  square  has  gone  into  human  language  as  a  term  for  in- 
tegrity and  beauty.  We  are  square  physically  when  we  form  an 
equilateral  quadrature  by  standing  upright,  feet  joined  and  arms 
outstretched.  We  are  square  spiritually  when  the  events  of 
our  lives  follow  the  principle  of  fourfoldness  expressed  by  the 
law  of  "the  limbs."  The  metaphysical  and  physical  supple- 
ment one  another.  We  are  square  cosmologically  and  theolog- 
ically by  other  figures  and  measurements  unnecessary  to  detail 
at  present. 

The  idea  of  the  square  I  have  derived  from  the  Apocalypse 
of  St.  John.  I  use  it  because  of  its  psychological  character.  I 
will  explain  what  that  moans.  St.  John  saw  the  New  Jerusalem 
descend  in  the  form  of  a  man  and  that  form  was  described  as 
being  a  square.  That  mystery  only  becomes  intelligible  when 
you  place  the  human  figure  with  outstretched  arms  inscribed  in 
a  square,  making  the  length  of  the  body  from  head  to  sole  equal 
to  the  length  of  the  arms  and  hands  from  finger  tip  to  finger 
tip.  A  square  drawn  around  such  a  figure  may  well  represent 
the  human  temple  and  the  psychological  fourfoldness  of  man  in 
his  temperamental  actions.  Such  a  figure  in  a  square  is  to  be 
recommended  to  all  who  study  man's  constitution  and  their  own. 
For  microcosmic  man  it  answers  to  the  macrocosmic  man's  fig- 
ure in  that  temple  I  gave  in  a  former  chapter,  and  located  geo- 
graphically from  China  to  the  Mediterranean  sea  and  a  few  de- 
grees north  of  the  tropic  of  Cancer. 

Laotzse  knew  the  fourfoldness.  The  cosmogony  of  the  Tao- 
Teh-King  is  this: 

Tao  gave  birth  to  1  (Tao-sen-yit). 


COSMOGONY  171 

1  gave  birth  to  2  (Yit-sen-ri). 

2  gave  birth  to  3  (Ri-sen-sam). 

3  gave  birth  to  4  ( Sam-sen-wan- wut  or  the  10,000  things), 
and  the  10,000  things  carry  (1)  Yin  on  the  back  and  hold,  (2) 
Yang  in  the  arms,  and  these  two  produce,  (3)  Harmony,  or  the 
living  principle,  and,  these  three  together  constitute  (4)  the 
world ;  in  other  words  Yin,  Yang,  Harmony  and  the  world  also 
constitute  a  fourfoldness.  Rather  interesting;  is  it  not?  Yin 
and  Yang  mean  Mother  and  Father. 

So  much  for  Diagram  II.  and  its  construction.  The  word 
Teh,  stands  in  the  centre  of  the  Diagram  and  I  shall  now  try  to 
make  you  see  these  four  as  emanations  from  Teh. 

Those  who  have  given  serious  attention  to  the  life  that 
seems  to  rush  by  them;  anybody  who  has  observed  phenomena 
and  thought  about  their  causes,  must  have  become  aware  that 
existence,  either  in  cosmic  or  human  form,  is  something  dyna- 
mic, something  living,  is  much  like  a  stream.  To  be  sure, 
none  of  us  know  either  the  stream's  spring  nor  its  outlet  to  an 
ocean,  if  there  be  any  ocean.  We  see  only  that  something 
under  space  and  time  conditions.  It  is  even  possible  that  there 
is  no  stream  and  that  we  read  our  own  changeable  nature  into 
that  which  we  call  the  universe. 

However,  we  see  change.  Even  fire,  if  it  be  not  stirred,  will 
go  to  sleep  and  die.  Like  ships  swinging  around  on  the  anchor 
chain,  we  do  not  really  get  away,  but  nevertheless  we  are  always 
in  motion,  because  life  itself  moves  by  ebb  and  flood.  "Water 
without  circulation  becomes  stagnant  and  pollutes  itself.  Moral 
bugles  are  always  calling  us ;  we  are  never  allowed  rest  except 
we  wed  ourselves  to  death.  Streams,  physical,  mental  and 
moral ;  winds,  spiritual  or  otherwise,  keep  up  a  circulation  every- 
where. Some  of  us  in  pessimistic  moods  see  these  currents 
only  as  destructive  and  point  to  all  the  flotsam  and  jetsam 
they  carry  along.  Others  more  optimistic  see  only  how  great 
majestic  ships  of  human  dignity  and  worth  sail  down  in  the 
deep  waters  and  safely  pass  all  dangers. 

Wherever  mankind  has  had  an  eye  for  such  a  movement  it 
has  usually  also  seen  that  movement  under  a  twofold  aspect  and 
named  these  aspects  variously.  In  China  the  twofold  aspect 
was  seen  long  ago,  and  by  Laotzse  the  two  were  named  Tao  and 
Teh;  and  he,  like  the  other  ancient  sages,  by  these  two  terms 
described  what  he  perceived,  and  he  did  it  in  the  Tao-Teh-King. 
I  have  already  set  forth  what  Laotzse  meant  by  Tao  and  there 


172  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

is  but  little  more  to  say.  I  began  to  speak  about  Teh  in  the 
last  chapter  and  shall  now  give  some  more  information.  I  will 
claim  that  the  word  Teh  represents  such  movements,  changes, 
emanations,  streams  and  dynamic  forces,  as  those  I  have  hinted 
at  as  descriptions  of  That  which  takes  place  around  us. 

I  have  frequently  used  the  word  Teh  and  given  suggestions 
about  it;  yet  much  is  still  left  to  be  said.  Something  of  that 
still  unsaid  I  shall  try  to  bring  out  by  placing  the  Teh  in  rela- 
tionship to  the  conceptions  evolution  and  karma,  and  thereby 
gain  some  means  by  which  to  explain  it. 

I  shall  not  define  evolution  nor  karma.  By  evolution  I  shall 
in  general  understand  the  movement  in  the  universe  so  aptly 
defined  by  Herbert  Spencer  and  Science  in  general,  and  I  shall 
take  the  word  largely  in  a  physical  sense.  By  Karma  I  shall 
understand  practically  the  same  as  I  understand  by  evolution, 
but  I  shall  take  the  word  mainly  in  a  moral  and  spiritual  sense. 
At  any  rate  I  shall  give  the  word  a  very  wide  and  universal 
meaning. 

These  two  words,  evolution  and  karma,  have  many  equiva- 
lents, varying  according  to  views  taken,  and  it  will  have  its 
interest  that  I  give  you  some  of  these  equivalents  and  explain 
them  to  some  extent,  because  the  equivalents  will  help  to  explain 
Tao  and  Teh,  the  two  old  Chinese  terms  for  thoughts  similar 
to  some  aspects  of  evolution,  karma  and  the  other  terms,  as  I 
shall  now  mention  them  in  the  following  and  elucidate  them. 

The  classical  people,  Greeks  and  Romans,  used  the  term 
destiny  or  fate,  and  the  fullest  explanation  of  this  word  is 
that  given  by  Seneca  in  his  epistles.  I  will  therefore  reproduce 
this  Stoic's  words.  I  will  quote  Seneca  in  full  because  his 
definition  is  probably  least  known. 

"They  (our  ancestors)  did  not  by  any  means  believe  this, 
that  Jupiter,  as  we  worship  him  at  the  Capitol  and  in  other 
shrines,  sent  down  thunderbolts  from  his  hand;  but  they  recog- 
nized the  same  Jupiter  as  we  do,  the  same  director  and  guardian 
of  the  universe,  the  mind  and  soul  of  the  world,  the  lord  and 
maker  of  this  work,  to  whom  each  name  belongs.  You  wish  to 
say  that  he  is  Providence,  you  will  speak  correctly;  for  he  is 
the  one  by  whose  wisdom  the  world  is  cared  for,  so  that  it  may 
proceed  safely  and  perform  its  tasks.  You  wish  to  call  him 
Nature;  you  will  not  sin.  Tie  is  the  One  from  whom  all  come; 
by  whose  spirit  we  live.      You  wish  to  call  him  the  World,  you 


SENECA  173 

will  not  be  deceived,  for  he  is  all  this  which  is  visible,  set  in  his 
own  members,  sustaining  himself  and  his."1 

"If  you  speak  of  Nature,  Fate,  Fortune,  all  are  names  of 
the  same  God,  who  is  manifesting  himself  in  these  various 
ways. '  '2 

I  need  not  say  much  in  explanation  of  Seneca.  As  you 
noticed,  he  advises  not  to  care  for  names  but  to  get  at  the  fact 
behind  names.  And  speaking  in  the  language  of  the  Tao-Teh- 
King,  the  fact  he  cares  for  is  named  Teh.  And  Teh  as  a  fact 
is  presented  by  Laotzse  as  a  "power  that  makes  for  righteous- 
ness," a  power  that  has  its  being  in  all  our  modes  of  existence. 
A  power  and  purpose,  a  will  and  a  way,  name  it  as  we  may, 
exists  as  a  fact  and  cannot  be  denied.  Look  upon  it  as  evolu- 
tion, as  karma  or  under  any  of  the  aspects  mentioned  by  Seneca 
— there  it  is,  and,  as  Seneca  (Ep,  107.11)  also  says,  "it  leads 
the  willing  and  drags  the  unwilling." 

An  ancient  Greek  poet  describing  the  mother  of  the  gods, 
said  she  was  "One  shape  of  many  names."  That  description 
fits  Teh  admirably.  Not  only  is  Teh  of  motherly  nature  (though 
the  Tao-Teh-King  knows  no  gods)  but  Teh  is  multiform  and 
many  named,  as  I  have  said,  and  that  because  Teh  enters  into 
all  human  actions  as  the  organizing  reason,  the  forming  and 
plastic  principle,  and  gets  its  many  names  from  these  incarna- 
tions. 

Such  a  principle  as  Teh  is  peculiar  to  humanity.  Through- 
out the  organic  world,  action  is  regulated  mainly  by  hereditary 
structure ;  and  secondarily  by  reflex  action  or  instinct  derived 
from  hereditary  structure.  But  action  with  man  is  modified  by 
intelligent  use  of  experience,  by  the  reflex  action  of  the  accumu- 
lated results  of  mankind's  past  experiences.  That  action  and 
those  accumulated  results  of  mankind's  past  experiences  is  in 
Chinese  called  Teh;  with  us,  scientifically,  Morals,  principles  of 
morals  or  principles  for  the  conduct  of  our  spiritual  life. 

The  Calvinist  among  christian  theologians  chose  the  term 
election  and  understood  one  small  action  of  that  which  other 
christians  call  Providence,  a  term  so  personal  that  they  are 
constantly  in  trouble  when  asked  to  explain  it. 

Among  scientists  you  meet  with  the  biologist  who  has  a  term 
of  his  own,  by  which  he  accounts  for  both  cause  and  effect  and 
motion,  too.  "Selection"  is  his  magic  word.      I  need  not  spend 

'Seneca    Naturalium    Quest.     Lib.    11.     Cap.   45.1,  2,  3. 
'Seneca.     De    Beneficiis    Lib.    lv.8. 


174  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

any  time  on  it;  you  are  familiar  with  it  if  you  have  followed 
the  literature  of  the  last  thirty  years.  The  same  is  the  case 
with  the  phrase  ''cosmic  process,"  so  handy  to  the  evolutionist 
as  an  explanation  of  facts  he  does  not  understand  and  which 
his  narrow  science  has  no  room  for. 

Pantheistic  poets  of  modern  days  speak  of  "cosmic  emo- 
tion" and  quote  Sidgwick  and  Eomanes  as  their  authorities; 
other  poets  of  the  same  color  have  varied  the  phrase  and  speak 
of  "tides  of  eternal  emotions."  The  mystics  of  all  ages  have 
called  the  same  phenomena  and  their  causes  "love."  The 
future  will  probably  see  other  terms  and  hear  other  expres- 
sions. And  it  is  well  that  new  terms  and  expressions  should 
come  forth.  They  prove  that  some  parts  of  mankind  are  neither 
dead  nor  asleep.  Whatever  terms  be  applied,  they  all  signify 
that  the  power  they  name  is  one  that  works  for  uplift,  for  evo- 
lution, for  progress,  for  spiritual  life,  for  the  Inner  Life.  The 
terms  employed  always  signify  quality  in  contradistinction  to 
quantity,  and  they  all  have  a  tendency  to  be  personal  in  char- 
acter and  all  stand  somewhat  in  opposition  to  something  imper- 
sonal. It  seems  that  no  teacher  can  avoid  personification. 
Whatever  terms  be  employed  and  whether  they  be  considered 
personally  or  impersonally  they  can  all  be  translated  by  Teh, 
as  the  Tao-Teh-King  uses  that  word. 

I,  myself,  shall  not  offer  new  terms.  I  am  engaged  in  re- 
storing Teh  to  its  right  place  and  I  mean  to  use  with  perfectly 
liberty  and  whenever  I  want  any  of  the  terms  I  have  just  now 
enumerated,  because  they  express  various  aspects  of  the  Chinese 
conception  of  Teh.  But  this  I  will  say  right  here,  that  with  the 
exception  of  Seneca's  explication  of  all  that  which  lies  in  the 
word  fate,  all  the  other  terms  apply  principally  to  Tao  and  only 
secondarily  to  Teh.  With  the  exception  of  Stoicism,  the  West 
knows  next  to  nothing  of  such  a  conception  as  that  of  Teh  as 
the  mother  of  the  universe;  or  as  we  can  say,  since  Goethe,  the 
"eternally  feminine."  Western  thought  is  so  exclusively  mascu- 
line in  cast  and  formal  in  its  philosophy,  that  it  has  become 
terribly  one-sided  and  barren.  If  it  were  not  for  the  mystic 
leven  of  love,  that,  here  and  there,  now  and  then,  has  softened 
its  rudeness  and  added  a  little  affection  and  color  to  its  men- 
tality, the  Western  mind  would  be  a  dreary  desert  and  look 
like  barren  rocks.  And  the  pity  is,  the  West  believes  itself 
superior. 

The  names  given  to  Deity  by  the  ancients  were  always 


TEH  175 

descriptions  of  the  character  of  their  deity,  such  as  they  per- 
ceived it.  In  conformity  to  that  practice,  I  shall  give  Teh  the 
sense  of  "the  eternally  femine,,,  the  sense  of  "a  power  that 
makes  for  righteousness,"  the  sense  of  "providence,"  the  sense 
of  "cosmic  process,"  the  sense  of  "moral  force,"  the  sense  of 
"mother,"  besides  all  the  other  senses  already  given  the  word. 
The  reason  for  these  many  names  of  Teh  or  senses  given 
to  Teh  is  this,  that  Teh  is  as  an  old  saw  says  a  soul  and  a  light 
that  reveals  all  things,  but  hides  itself  from  sight.  All  the  world 
sees  by  Teh,  but  never  saw  Teh. 

"I  find  thee,  0  Most  High,  where'er  my  glance  I  send, 

At  the  beginning  Thee ;  Thee  also  at  the  end. 

If  towards  the  source  I  fly,  in  Thee  't  is  lost  to  me. 

The  outlet  would  I  spy, — that,  too,  breaks  forth  from  Thee. 

Thou  the  beginning  art,  that  doth  its  end  enclose. 

Thou  art  the  end  that  back  to  the  beginning  flows. 

And  in  the  midst  art  Thou,  and  all  things  are  in  Thee, 

And  I  am  I,  because  Thou  art  the  midst  in  me. '  '3 

According  to  the  Tao-Teh-King,  the  relationship  of  Tao  and 
Teh  is  something  like  this:  "If  Tao  perishes,"  it  is  said,  "then 
Teh  will  also  perish."  Teh  is  called  the  manifestation  of  Tao, 
and,  Tao  cannot  be  reached  except  by  means  of  Teh.  Teh  is 
multiform,  but  Tao  is  a  unit.  These  two  ideas,  that  Teh  is 
the  manifestation  of  Tao  and  is  multiform,  explain  the  syn- 
chretism  of  the  Teh.  All  virtue  is  necessarily  manifold  and  ever 
varying.  In  one  moment  it  is  heavenward  and  a  worthship; 
in  the  next  it  is  earthward  or  love  to  the  neighbor.  These  two 
ideas  of  "manifestation"  and  "multiformity"  explain  the  great 
variety  of  names  and  descriptions  of  Teh  already  given.  In 
one  place  it  is  said  that  Tao  is  the  Lord  of  Teh,  but  nowhere 
does  any  commentary  explain  in  what  that  lordship  consists. 
Whatever  it  does  mean,  it  does  not  mean  that  Tao  is  superior 
to  Teh,  because  Tao  does  not  and  cannot  exist  without  Teh. 

It  will  not  do  to  call  Tao  the  masculine  and  Teh  the  femi- 
nine principle  of  existence,  because  the  Tao-Teh-King  not  only 
does  not  do  it,  but  knows  both  Yang  and  Yin  and  calls  them  the 
masculine  and  feminine  principles.  If  Tao  and  Teh  are  related 
to  Yang  and  Yin,  then  it  must  be  as  superior  spiritual  principles 
behind  them  and  it  is  in  this  sense  that  I  take  Teh,  when  I  call 
it  "the  eternally  feminine." 


"Friodrich  Riickert:      The    Wisdom    of    th      Brahmin,     lv.50.     Translated    by    C. 
Brooks,  Boston,  1SS2. 


176  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  define  Tao  and  Teh  fully  and 
satisfactory  to  a  Western  critical  and  intellectual  mind.  Both 
terms  are  too  elastic  for  logic  and  both  represent  something 
universal,  that  cannot  be  put  into  a  philosophical  form.  Truly 
the  Tao-Teh-King  declares  that  their  nature  "baffles  investiga- 
tion"; but  the  same  book  also  declares  that  if  we  "use"  Tao 
and  Teh,  we  shall  know  them. 

Thus  an  examination  of  the  nature  of  Tao  and  Teh  ends 
like  all  examinations  of  mystic  principles ;  they  are  beyond  com- 
prehension, but  ready  for  our  use  at  any  time  and  anywhere. 
The  mystic  principles  desire  incorporation;  they  wish  to  be 
placed  in  the  human  heart  and  to  be  allowed  to  lead  man  to  his 
eternal  good.  They  never  mislead,  however  exacting  they  may 
be.  They  never  teach  us,  as  we  understand  teaching,  but  they 
are  ready  to  lead  us,  and,  they  are  always  near  us,  yea,  they 
dwell  in  our  hearts. 

I  have  just  said  that  I  should  give  Teh  the  sense  of  "the 
eternally  feminine"  and  the  sense  of  "mother."  These  two 
senses  have  been  given  Teh  by  explicit  language.  All  the  other 
senses  are  implied  in  various  teachings.  But  before  I  draw 
out  the  colors  and  the  life  that  lies  in  the  terms  of  the  sixth 
chapter  of  the  Tao-Teh-King  on  the  mother-power  Teh,  I  will 
give  you  a  translation  of  it.  And  I  will  say  a  few  words  about 
the  direct  meaning  before  I  apply  this  conception  mother-power 
to  Teh,  for  Teh  is  the  mother-power,  considered  morally,  out  of 
which  springs  our  whole  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  life.  Teh 
as  the  mother  of  all  things  is  described  in  the  sixth  chapter  as 
follows: 

'"Hie  Valley-God  never  dies.  I  call  it  the  Mother  of  the 
Abyss  and  she  is  the  Root  of  Heaven-Earth  (or  the  All-things.) 
She  endures  forever,  and  forever  she  produces." 

I  might  have  disposed  of  this  short  chapter  by  saying  that 
this  Valley-God  is  the  same  as  sakti,  as  (leva  matri,  but  I  should 
then  have  been  reading  Brahminical  ideas  and  modern  methods 
into  Chinese  Thcosophy  and  that  would  have  been  a  false  com- 
mentary.      It  has  been  done  by  others,  I  am  sorry  to  say. 

T  will  admit,  that  the  root  idea  of  the  Tao-Teh-King 's  de- 
scription is  probably  physical  and  sexual.  So  much  in  the  East 
begins  that  way.  So  much  in  the  East  is  cast  mainly  in  pre- 
historic  forms,  and  only  too  many  of  modern  students  of  East- 
ern lore  stick  in  these  forms. 

While  the  signs  and  forms  of  the  Tao-Teh-King  are  often 
physical   and   sexual,   simply  because  the  writer  had  no   other 


THE  VALLEY-GOD  177 

means  at  hand  for  his  use,  these  signs  and  forms  of  the  Tao- 
Teh-King  always  bear  a  high  and  noble,  a  spiritual  and  trans- 
cendental signification,  and  are  so  understood  by  genuine  Tao- 
ists.  In  this  case,  "the  Valley-God"  cannot  mean  anything 
else  than  Teh  or  Virtue.  The  sign  for  Valley-Spirit  is  a  double 
one.      It  is  composed  of  ku  and  sen. 

The  sign  for  ku  is  a  mouth  out  of  which  flows  water,  hence 
it  is  a  sign  for  valley,  but  simply  for  a  valley  without  a  stream. 
To  indicate  that  the  valley  gives  out  water,  the  sign  sen  is  added, 
which  indicates  that  the  valley  is  living.  That  is  the  way  the 
Chinese  commentator  understands  it.  For  short,  the  signs  is 
a  name  for  the  activity  of  Teh  in  all  the  realms  of  its  operation. 
But  the  realistic  conception  connected  with  the  term  must  not 
be  ignored.  There  is  such  an  one  in  it,  which  is  evident  from 
the  fact  that  Laotzse  also  calls  it  "nourishing  mother"  (ssi'-mu). 

A  prominent  Taoist  and  philosopher,  Liet-tsi  (400  B.  C), 
declares  Laotzse 's  teaching  and  words  to  be  cited  from  the  books 
of  the  fabled  King  Hoang-ti  (about  27  Cent.  B.  C).  If  so, 
then  the  meaning  of  the  sign  and  term  would  be  physical  and 
sexual.  Be  this  declaration  of  Liet-tsi  so  or  not,  we  cannot 
prove  or  deny  the  allegation.  The  word  ku-sen  means  now 
the  "emanating  spirit"  or  "the  out  flowing  spirit,"  indicating 
the  invisible  power  behind  all  objective  appearances,  or,  in  other 
words,  the  spiritual  or  invisible  mother  of  all  things  already 
mentioned  in  the  opening  chapter  of  the  book. 

The  chapter  on  the  valley-god  already  given  in  translation 
divides  itself  naturally  into  three  thoughts.  The  first  relates 
to  the  valley-god  as  the  original  power  through  which  as  the 
mysterious  mother  all  things  come  forth;  the  second  thought 
relates  to  the  valley-god  as  the  root  of  heaven  and  earth  special- 
ly; and  the  third  thought  is  this  that  these  two  already  men- 
tioned do  not  exist  separately  but  are  really  one,  and,  it  has 
been  suggested  by  the  German  commentator,  Strausz,  that  these 
two  in  union  correspond  to  Chokma  of  the  Old  Testament,  to  the 
Idea  of  Plato,  to  Sophia  of  the  Gnostics  and  the  Magic  of  Jacob 
Bohme.  I  think  the  suggestion  an  admirable  one.  I  would 
add  that  the  two  in  union  also  correspond  to  Sephira,  mother 
of  the  Sephiroth,  of  the  Kabbalah. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  to  work  out  the  details  of  these 
correspondences,  but  space  and  time  forbid  it,  at  present.  I 
wish  to  bring  Teh  down  to  the  level  of  our  own  daily  life  and 
individual  existence.  That  will  be  more  practical  and  useful, 
at  present. 


178  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Let  me  now  apply  this  fourfoldness  of  Teh  to  you  and  my- 
self and  try  to  find  out  our  exact  place  in  the  temple,  and  thereby 
necessarily  the  work  we  can  and  must  do  in  that  universal 
ministry  of  Teh  to  which  we  all  without  exception  are  called. 

If  we  find  ourselves  individually  of  a  warm  and  pure  red 
blood  condition;  if  our  blood  is  not  loaded  with  foreign  sub- 
stances, but  readily  heals  a  wound ;  if  our  nerves  are  in  a  corre- 
sponding healthy  condition  and  neither  " cracked"  nor  weak;  if 
we  enjoy  to  live  and  to  be  active  in  great  and  good  work  and  do 
a  work  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  not  merely  because  we  are 
paid  for  it  or  profit  by  it  in  some  way,  but  do  such  a  work  be- 
cause we  find  our  call  in  it  and  an  innermost  satisfaction  in  doing 
it ;  then,  I  say,  we  are  Life  people,  people  of  the  apostolic  temper, 
workers  in  the  universal  ministry.  Our  genius  is  activity  and 
it  will  be  a  sin  for  us  to  be  unfaithful.  Our  place  on  the  Diagram 
and  in  the  temple  is  readily  seen.  We  know  what  Teh  wants 
of  us. 

If  we  are  introspective  of  disposition;  if  we  always  are  in- 
clined to  look  behind  a  phenomenon  to  see  its  spirit,  if  possible ; 
if  the  blue  sky  draws  us  out  of  ourselves  and  robs  us  of  the  solid 
ground  under  our  feet;  if  things  and  persons  do  not  appear  to 
our  souls  like  the  seeming  solid  things  our  senses  declare  them 
to  be;  if  we  are  disinclined  for  all  kinds  of  " small  talk,"  "gos- 
sip," or  the  like,  but  from  time  to  time  are  moved  by  a  mighty 
impulse  to  "speak  out,"  to  "witness,"  to  give  testimony  in  the 
name  of  the  Highest;  then,  we  are  of  the  prophetic  temper,  or 
at  least  poets  or  philosophers.  Our  genius  is  clearly  spirit  and 
our  work  in  the  universal  ministry  so  clearly  marked  off  for  us 
that  we  never  can  mistake  it.  We  know  our  place  on  the  Dia- 
gram and  in  the  temple.    We  know  what  Teh  wants  of  us. 

If  our  hearts  bleed  at  the  sight  of  human  misery,  both  physi- 
cal and  spiritual;  if  we  burn  to  go  out  into  the  world  to  preach 
the  glad  tidings  that  there  is  hope  for  all,  even  the  deepest 
fallen;  if  we  proclaim  that  hope  in  love  to  mankind  and  without 
any  condemnation,  not  even  with  reproach;  if  we  cheerfully 
stand  abuse,  even  stripes  and  never  lose  courage  in  our  work; 
if  we  persist  in  working  for  others  as  if  they  were  our  own  rela- 
tives, though  separated  from  us  by  race  or  color  or  enmity;  then, 
I  say,  we  are  of  the  evangelistic  temper.  Our  genius  is  clearly 
Love  and  nobody  can  do  the  work  laid  out  for  us  in  our  ministry 
as  well  as  we  ran.  We  know  our  place  in  the  temple  and  what 
Teh  wants  of  us. 

If  we  are  disposed  to  teach  and  take  care,  to  lead  and  to 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  TEH  179 

guide,  and  be  a  daily  and  hourly  sacrifice  of  which  others  take 
freely  and  eat,  never  even  realizing  that  they  torture  us;  if  we 
have  a  patience  that  never  wearies  over  repetitions  and  monot- 
ony; if  compensation  is  never  thought  of;  if  we  run  after  the 
lost  sheep,  comfort  the  obstinate  ones,  and  bear  over  with  the 
unreasonable ;  then,  our  work  in  the  temple  of  humanity  is  pas- 
toral teaching  and  we  are  indeed  pillars  in  the  sanctuary  of  Teh. 

It  is  evident  that  this  last  group  of  sanctified  tempers  and 
human  beings  are  those  who  live  with  determination  (see  Dia- 
gram II.).  That  the  first  group  described  (the  apostolic)  is  living 
in  the  Whole  is  self-evident.  I  hardly  need  to  say  that  the 
prophetic  temper  as  described  is  the  light  bearer  of  beauty,  and 
that  the  evangelistic  temper  is  a  real  incarnation  of  goodness. 

Let  none  try  to  stifle  their  own  conscience  and  say  that  they 
have  not  felt  any  motion  in  the  direction  of  the  four  forms  men- 
tioned. They  do  not  speak  the  truth,  ignorantly  or  wilfully.  All 
feel  the  motions  of  Teh!  The  Tao-Teh-King  (LI)  declares  "To 
produce  and  not  possess — to  act  and  not  expect — to  enlarge  and 
not  control — that  is  Teh."  If  such  people  have  not  felt  the  draw- 
ings of  Teh  under  such  forms  as  those  I  have  described,  they 
have  felt  them  under  other  forms.  Perhaps  the  four  to  them 
should  be  named,  God,  Eeason,  Nature,  Highest  Life;  perhaps 
they  should  be  named  Right,  Justice,  Love,  Reciprocity  of  life ; 
perhaps  they  should  be  named  as  on  Diagram  I.  No  matter  how 
they  are  named.  Each  age  has  named  them  differently,  but  each 
age  has  known  the  fact  that  Teh  manifests  itself  in  a  temple 
square  or  human  individuality.  Not  only  each  age  knows  the 
fact,  but  the  fact  presents  itself  to  each  individual,  even  to  those 
who  cannot  express  the  fact  or  translate  the  moving  power  into 
words. 

No  man  is  sufficient  for  himself.  Life  is  so  constituted  that 
we  need  reservoirs  of  every  kind  of  excellence,  of  intelligence, 
of  knowledge,  of  power.  The  four  forms  are  such  reservoirs  in 
which  Teh  is  present  and  they  are  for  us  to  draw  from,  both  to 
live  by  and  to  work  by. 

Now  in  which  ever  of  these  four  groups  our  work  may  lie, 
it  is  the  spirit  of  Teh,  the  Great  Mother,  that  works  that  temper 
in  us.  And  to  be  in  Truth,  we  must  obey,  yea  we  wish  to  obey 
and  we  do  obey  as  surely  as  the  water  runs  out  of  the  valley. 
You  remember  the  sign  of  ku-sen,  the  great  symbol  of  Teh! 

I  say  it  is  Teh  that  both  works  in  us  and  wishes  to  work  in 
us,  and,  if  we  amount  to  anything  at  all  in  the  universal  ministry 
to  which  we  all  are  called  by  Teh,  even  while  we  stilJ  struggle 


180  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KINQ 

on  the  Path,  then  we  show  eagerness  to  do  that  work  as  we  say 
"with  a  will";  we  do  it  determinedly  and  that  eagerness  proves 
what  we  amount  to. 

This  is  Teh  and  teaching  about  Teh.  And  Teh  now  wit- 
nesses within  each  one  of  us  for  or  against  us,  according  to  the 
truth  in  which  we  stand  in  this  matter. 

There  is  a  spurious  Biblical  phrase  which  reads,  "It  is  a 
terrible  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God."  It  may 
be  spurious  as  regards  the  Bible,  but  this  I  say,  "It  is  a  terrible 
thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  Teh"  for  those  who  are  unfaithful. 
It  can  only  mean  destruction. 

I  said  in  the  beginning  of  this  chapter  that  the  fourfold  life 
of  Teh  corresponded  to  similar  powers  within  our  constitution 
and  that  this  corresponding  fourfoldness  made  it  not  only  possi- 
ble but  easy  to  live  with  determination  in  the  Whole,  the  Good, 
the  True  and  the  Beautiful. 

I  have  shown  you  the  corresponding  forms,  both  the  inner 
in  yourself  and  the  outer  in  Teh's  universal  life,  and,  I  have 
said  that  Teh  works  spontaneously  in  us  all,  because  Teh  is  a 
river  of  active  goodness  or  virtue  that  flows  into  the  world  from 
out  a  valley,  which  is  called  the  Abyss  of  Abysses.  It  is  now  for 
you  and  me  to  live  up  to  this  light  and  make  ourselves  living 
realizations  of  that  stupendous  fact. 

Terstegen  was  a  Dutch  mystic.    As  a  mystic,  he  is  esr^ecially 
remarkable  on  account  of  his  intuitive  perceptions  of  the  mo- 
tions of  the  Spirit,  of  Teh   such  as  I  have  denned  Teh.    Here 
are  a  few  lines  from  his  poetry  describing  these  motions  of  Teh: 
"Hath  not  each  heart  a  passion  and  a  dream — 

Each,  some  companionship  forever  sweet — 
And  each,  in  saddest  skies  some  silver  gleam — 

And  each,  some  passing  joy  too  faint  and  fleet — 
And  each,  a  staff  and  stay,  though  frail  it  prove — 
And  each,  a  face  he  fain  would  ever  see?" 
These  are  some  of  the  beckonings  of  Teh,  that  come  to  all. 
He  finally  asks : 

"And  what  have  I? — a  glory  and  a  calm, 
A  life  that  is  an  everlasting  psalm, 
A  heaven  of  endless  joy  in  Thee,"  that  is  Teh. 
Terstegen  thus  declares  that  Teh  is  an  "everlasting  pres- 
ence"  and  an  endless  joy. 

May  that  be  your  lot!  You  shall  then  know  that  all  this 
about  Teh  is  of  the  Inner  Life. 


A  SHAWNEE  TALE 

XII 

IN  the  last  chapter,  I  introduced  and  discussed  several  new 
subjects,  necessarily  leaving  a  great  deal  for  this  and  the 
following  chapters.       The  subjects  were  Teh,  the  human 

temple,  our  temperaments,  and  the  work  we  are  called  to 
do  both  on  the  Path  and  in  the  Universal  Ministry  for  the  benefit 
of  our  fellowmen. 

I  shall  now  continue  the  same  subjects  and  endeavor  to 
explain  certain  important  aspects  of  them  by  means  of  a  folklore 
tale  from  our  American  plains.  Strange  as  it  may  appear,  the 
story  I  shall  read  contains  the  most  valuable  material  for  a 
study  of  Teh  and  a  life  on  the  Path,  the  life  of  regeneration. 

The  story  I  shall  read  is  a  Shawnee  tale,  and  I  give  it  as  told 
in  Schoolcraft's  "Algic  researches"  under  the  title  of  "The 
Celestial  Sisters."  The  book  is  now  scarce.  Inner  evidences 
and  the  undisputed  veracity  of  Schoolcraft  is  sufficient  evidence 
against  any  charge  or  suspicion  of  a  manipulation  of  the  story, 
in  the  interest  of  romance  or  continuity  or  spiritual  symbolism. 
This  is  the  story. 

Tiie  Celestial  Sisters. 

Waupee,  or  the  White  Hawk,  lived  in  a  remote  part  of  the 
forest,  where  animals  abounded.  Every  day  he  returned  from 
the  chase  with  a  large  spoil,  for  he  was  one  of  the  most  skillful 
and  lucky  of  hunters  of  his  tribe.  His  form  was  like  the  cedar; 
the  fire  of  youth  beamed  from  his  eye;  there  was  no  forest  too 
gloomy  for  him  to  penetrate,  and  no  track  made  by  bird  or 
beast  of  any  kind  which  he  could  not  readily  follow. 

One  day  he  had  gone  beyond  any  point  which  he  had  ever 
before  visited.  lie  traveled  through  an  open  wood,  which 
enabled  him  to  see  a  great  distance.       At  length  he  beheld  a 


182  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

light  breaking  through  the  foliage  of  the  distant  trees,  which 
made  him  sure  that  he  was  on  the  borders  of  a  prairie.  It 
was  a  wide  plain,  covered  with  long  blue  grass,  and  enameled 
with  flowers  of  a  thousand  lovely  tints. 

After  walking  for  some  time  without  a  path,  musing  upon 
the  open  country,  and  enjoying  the  fragrant  breeze,  he  suddenly 
came  to  a  ring  worn  among  the  grass  and  the  flowers,  as  if  it 
had  been  made  by  footsteps  moving  lightly  round  and  round- 
But  it  was  strange,  so  strange  as  to  cause  the  White  Hawk 
to  pause  and  gaze  long  and  fixedly  upon  the  ground,  there  was 
no  path  which  led  to  this  flowery  circle.  There  was  not  even 
a  crushed  leaf  nor  a  broken  twig,  nor  the  least  trace  of  a  foot- 
step, approaching  or  retiring,  to  be  found.  He  thought  he 
would  hide  himself  and  lie  in  wait  to  discover,  if  he  could,  what 
this  strange  circle  meant. 

Presently  he  heard  the  faint  sounds  of  music  in  the  air. 
He  looked  up  in  the  direction  they  came  from,  and  as  the  magic 
notes  died  away  he  saw  a  small  object,  like  a  little  summer  cloud 
that  approaches  the  earth,  floating  down  from  above.  At  first 
it  was  very  small,  and  seemed  as  if  it  could  have  been  blown 
away  by  the  first  breeze  that  came  along;  but  it  rapidly  grew 
as  he  gazed  upon  it,  and  the  music  every  moment  came  clearer 
and  more  sweetly  to  his  ear.  As  it  neared  the  earth  it  appeared 
as  a  basket,  and  it  was  filled  with  twelve  sisters,  of  the  most 
lovely  forms  and  enchanting  beauty. 

As  soon  as  the  basket  touched  the  ground  they  leaped  out, 
and  began  straightway  to  dance,  in  the  most  joyous  manner, 
around  the  magic  ring,  striking,  as  they  did  so,  a  shining  ball, 
which  uttered  the  most  ravishing  melodies,  and  kept  time  as  they 
danced. 

The  White  Hawk,  from  his  concealment,  entranced,  gazed 
upon  their  graceful  forms  and  movements.  He  admired  them 
all,  but  he  was  most  pleased  with  the  youngest.  He  longed  to 
be  at  her  side,  to  embrace  her,  to  call  her  his  own;  and  unable 
to  remain  longer  a  silent  admirer,  he  rushed  out  and  endeavored 
to  seize  this  twelfth  beauty  who  so  enchanted  him.  But  the 
sisters,  with  the  quickness  of  birds,  the  moment  they  descried 
the  form  of  a  man,  leaped  back  into  the  basket,  and  were  drawn 
up  into  the  sky. 

Lamenting  his  ill-luck,  Waupee  gazed  longingly  upon  the 
fairy  basket  as  it  ascended  and  bore  the  lovely  sisters  from  his 
view.  "They  are  gone,"  he  said,  "and  I  shall  see  them  no  more." 


A  SHAWNEE   TALE  183 

He  returned  to  his  solitary  lodge,  but  he  found  no  relief  to 
his  mind.  He  walked  abroad,  but  to  look  at  the  sky,  which 
had  withdrawn  from  his  sight  the  only  being  he  had  ever  loved, 
was  painful  to  him  now. 

The  next  day,  selecting  the  same  hour,  the  White  Hawk 
went  back  to  the  prairie,  and  took  his  station  near  the  ring ;  in 
order  to  deceive  the  sisters,  he  assumed  the  form  of  an  opossum, 
and  sat  among  the  grass  as  if  he  were  there  engaged  in  chewing 
the  cud.  He  had  not  waited  long  when  he  saw  the  cloudy 
basket  descend,  and  heard  the  same  sweet  music  falling  as 
before.  He  crept  slowly  toward  the  ring ;  but  the  instant  the 
sisters  caught  sight  of  him  they  were  startled,  and  sprang  into 
their  car.  It  rose  a  short  distance  when  one  of  the  older  sisters 
spoke : 

' '  Perhaps, ' '  she  said,  '*it  is  come  to  show  us  how  the  game 
is  played  by  mortals." 

"Oh  no,"  the  youngest  replied;  "quick,  let  us  ascend." 

And  all  joining  in  a  chant,  they  rose  out  of  sight. 

Waupee,  casting  off  his  disguise,  walked  sorrowfully  back 
to  his  lodge,  but  ah,  the  night  seemed  very  long  to  lonely 
White  Hawk !  His  whole  soul  was  filled  with  the  thought  of  the 
beautiful  sister. 

Betimes,  the  next  day,  he  returned  to  the  haunted  spot,  hop- 
ing and  fearing,  and  sighing  as  though  his  very  soul  would 
leave  his  body  in  its  anguish.  He  reflected  upon  the  plan  he 
should  follow  to  secure  success.  He  had  already  failed  twice ; 
to  fail  a  third  time  would  be  fatal.  Near  by  he  found  an  old 
stump,  much  covered  with  moss,  and  just  then  in  use  as  the 
residence  of  a  number  of  mice,  who  had  stopped  there  on  a 
pilgrimage  to  some  relatives  on  the  other  side  of  the  prairie. 
Th<.  White  Hawk  was  so  pleased  with  their  tidy  little  forms  that 
he  thought  he,  too,  would  be  a  mouse,  especially  as  they  were  by 
no  means  formidable  to  look  at,  and  would  not  be  at  all  likely  to 
ereate  alarm. 

He  accordingly,  having  first  brought  the  stump  and  set  it 
near  the  ring,  without  further  notice  became  a  mouse,  and 
peeped  and  sported  about,  and  kept  his  sharp  little  eyes  busy 
with  the  others ;  but  he  did  not  forget  to  keep  one  eye  up  toward 
the  sky,  and  one  ear  wide  open  in  the  same  direction. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  sisters,  at  their  customary  hour, 
«ame  down  and  resumed  their  sport. 

"But  see,"  cried  the  young  sister,  "that  stump  was  not 
there  before." 


184  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

She  ran  off,  frightened,  toward  the  basket.  Her  sisters  only 
smiled,  and  gathering  round  the  old  tree-stump,  they  struck  it, 
in  jest,  when  out  ran  the  mice,  and  among  them  Waupee.  They 
killed  them  all  but  one,  which  was  pursued  by  the  young  sister. 
Just  as  she  had  raised  a  silver  stick  which  she  held  in  her  hand 
to  put  an  end  to  it,  too,  the  form  of  the  White  Hawk  arose, 
and  he  clasped  his  prize  in  his  arms.  The  other  eleven  sprang 
to  their  basket,  and  were  drawn  up  to  the  skies. 

Waupee  exerted  all  his  skill  to  please  his  bride  and  win  her 
affections.  He  wiped  the  tears  from  her  eyes;  he  related  his 
adventures  in  the  chase;  he  dwelt  upon  the  charms  of  life  on  the 
earth.  He  was  constant  in  his  attentions,  keeping  fondly  by 
her  side,  and  picking  out  the  way,  for  her  to  walk  as  he  led  her 
gently  toward  his  lodge.  He  felt  his  heart  glow  with  joy  as  he 
entered  it,  and  from  that  moment  he  was  one  of  the  happiest 
of  men. 

Winter  and  summer  passed  rapidly  away,  and  as  the  spring 
drew  near  with  its  balmy  gales  and  its  many-colored  flowers, 
their  happiness  was  increased  by  the  presence  of  a  beautiful  boy 
in  their  lodge.  What  more  of  earthly  blessing  was  there  for 
them  to  enjoy? 

Waupee's  wife  was  a  daughter  of  one  of  the  stars;  and  as 
the  scenes  of  earth  began  to  pall  upon  her  sight,  she  sighed  to 
revisit  her  father.  But  she  was  obliged  to  hide  these  feelings 
from  her  husband.  She  remembered  the  charm  that  would  carry 
her  up,  and  while  White  Hawk  was  engaged  in  the  chase,  she 
took  occasion  to  construct  a  wicker  basket,  which  she  kept  con- 
cealed. In  the  meantime,  she  collected  such  rarities  from  the 
earth  as  she  thought  would  please  her  father,  as  well  as  the  most 
dainty  kinds  of  food. 

One  day  when  Waupee  was  absent  and  all  was  in  readiness, 
she  went  out  to  the  charmed  ring,  taking  with  her  her  little  son. 
As  they  entered  the  car  she  commenced  her  magical  song,  and  the 
basket  rose.  The  song  was  sad,  and  lowly  and  mournful,  and 
as  it  was  wafted  far  away  by  the  wind,  it  caught  her  husband's 
ear.  It  was  a  voice  which  lie  well  knew  and  he  instantly  ran  to 
the  prairie.  Though  he  made  breathless  speed,  he  could  not 
reach  the  ring  before  his  wife  and  child  had  ascended  beyond  his 
reach.  He  lifted  up  his  voice  in  loud  appeals,  but  they  were 
unavailing.  The  basket  still  went  up.  He  watched  it  till  it 
became  a  small  speck,  and  finally  it  vanished  in  the  sky.  He 
then  bent  his  head  down  to  the  ground,  and  was  miserable. 


A  SHAWNEE   TALE  185 

Through  a  long  winter  and  a  long  summer  Waupee  bewailed 
his  loss,  but  he  found  no  relief.  The  beautiful  spirit  had  come 
and  gone,  and  he  should  see  it  no  more ! 

He  mourned  his  wife's  loss  sorely,  but  his  son's  still  more; 
for  the  boy  had  both  the  mother's  beauty  and  the  father's 
strength. 

His  wife  had  reached  her  home  in  the  stars,  and  in  the 
blissful  employments  of  her  father's  house  she  had  almost  for- 
gotten that  she  had  left  a  husband  upon  the  earth.  But  her  son, 
as  he  grew  up,  resembled  more  and  more  his  father,  and  every 
day  he  was  restless  and  anxious  to  visit  the  scene  of  his  birth. 
His  grandfather  said  to  his  daughter,  one  day: 

"Go,  my  child,  and  take  your  son  down  to  his  father,  and 
ask  him  to  come  up  and  live  with  us.  But  tell  him  to  bring 
along  a  specimen  of  each  kind  of  bird  and  animal  he  kills  in  the 
chase." 

She  accordingly  took  the  boy  and  descended.  The  White 
Hawk,  who  was  ever  near  the  enchanted  spot,  heard  her  voice 
as  she  came  down  from  the  sky.  His  heart  beat  with  impatience 
as  he  saw  her  form  and  that  of  his  son,  and  they  were  soon 
clasped  in  his  arms. 

He  heard  the  message  of  the  Star,  and  he  began  to  hunt 
with  the  greatest  activity,  that  he  might  collect  the  present  with 
all  dispatch.  He  spent  whole  nights,  as  well  as  days,  in  searching 
for  every  curious  and  beautiful  animal  and  bird.  He  only  pre- 
served a  foot,  a  wing,  or  a  tail  of  each. 

When  all  was  ready,  Waupee  visited  once  more  each  favor- 
ite spot — the  hill-top  when  he  had  been  used  to  see  the  rising 
sun;  the  stream  where  he  had  sported  as  a  boy;  the  old  lodge, 
now  looking  sad  and  solemn,  which  he  was  to  sit  in  no  more; 
and  last  of  all,  coming  to  the  magic  circle,  he  gazed  widely 
around  him  with  tearful  eyes,  and,  taking  his  wife  and  child  by 
the  hand,  they  entered  the  car  and  were  drawn  up — into  a 
country  far  beyond  the  flight  of  birds,  or  the  power  of  mortal 
eye  to  pierce. 

This  is  the  story. 

I  would  indeed  like  to  dwell  minutely  upon  all  the  details 
of  the  rich  symbolism  of  the  story,  but  that  would  lead  beyond 
the  limits  of  my  present  discourses  on  the  Inner  Life  and  the 
Tao-Teh-King.  I  must  therefore  take  only  the  salient  features 
of  the  story  and  they  happen  to  be  just  the  very  details,  that  I 
need  to  explain  how  Teh  comes  to  us;  what  Wu-AVei  is  and 


186  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

how  our  temperaments  are  to  be  ruled  and  turned  into  use  for 
the  spiritual  life. 

Now  then,  to  the  application. 

First  about  Waupee.  He  is  plainly  what  we  ordinarily  call 
"the  natural  man";  a  fine  specimen  of  human  possibilities,  but 
he  is  not  on  the  Path  as  yet.  He  is  truly  a  man  of  tempera- 
ments, both  as  these  are  potentially  in  themselves  and  also  as 
hindrances  to  spiritual  life.  The  natural  man  is  seen  in  the 
hunter  and  his  skill.  The  un-free  man  is  also  seen  in  this  same 
skillful  man,  who  at  first  is  only  killing  such  passions  and  dis- 
positions as  he  meets  with  in  the  forest  of  his  own  spiritual 
wilderness.  It  is  not  till  he,  as  the  story  has  it,  on  the  third 
day  comes  upon  the  Open  that  he  enters  upon  the  larger  life. 
He  passes  through  three  degrees  of  development  before  he  is 
ready  to  concentrate  upon  the  one  object  in  his  life.  On  the 
first  day  he  discovers  that  there  is  an  "opening"  and  on  the 
next  he,  like  the  natural  man,  who  knows  nothing  about  "Wu 
Wei"  or  "non-action,"  fails  because  his  very  temperamental 
strength  and  natural  excellence  is  in  his  way.  His  faults  are 
these,  he  hides  and  lies  in  wait;  he  rushes  out  to  seize  the 
youngest  sister;  he  plays  possum;  these  are  temperamental 
faults,  but  perfectly  natural  on  his  part.  He,  an  Indian,  could 
not  be  expected  to  act  otherwise.  His  whole  character  is  deter- 
mined by  his  natural  will  and  by  his  training.  His  actions  are 
simply  forms  of  his  habits.  The  only  hope  we  can  see  for  him 
in  the  story,  and,  before  we  learn  of  the  trick  of  the  mice,  is 
his  boldness,  his  frankness  and  courage.  He  is  not  a  weakling, 
either  in  soul  or  body.  He  is  full  of  determination,  and  in 
those  traits  appear  the  first  rudiments  of  the  future  spiritual 
man.  Though  the  conflicts  that  arise  within  him  at  the  sight 
of  the  sister  threaten  to  destroy  him,  the  very  conflict  is  the 
sign  of  coming  freedom. 

And  how  does  he  finally  succeed?  After  having  tried  sev- 
eral kinds  of  direct  methods  for  the  attainment  of  his  object  and 
failed,  he  becomes  a  mouse  and  is  about  to  be  destroyed,  and 
then  he  succeeds,  that  is,  he  becomes  humble,  so  humble  that 
he  is  no  more  than  a  mouse.  Could  an  Indian  well  conceive  of  an 
animal  more  insignificant,  even  more  contemptible  than  a  mouse? 
And  when  he  is  about  to  be  destroyed  he  has  reached  the  very 
point  of  "non-action,"  or  Wu  Wei,  which  he,  and  all  of  us  must 
reach  before  we  embrace  the  heavenly  maiden,  Teh.  Teh  comes 
out  of  Wu  Wei,  "non-action";  Teh  is  taken  possession  of  in  Wu 


QUIETISM  187 

Wei  "non-action";  and  Teh  really  is  Wu  Wei,  "non-action," 
and  thus  the  very  soul  of  the  story,  the  motive  force  of  all  that 
takes  place. 

And  here  for  the  present,  I  must  drop  Waupee  as  a  subject 
and  talk  about  Wu  Wei.  Waupee  and  his  history  is  not  my  main 
subject.  He  is  only  an  illustration.  The  main  subject  is  Wu 
Wei  and  the  ideas  connected  with  that  conception. 

In  my  last  chapter,  I  have  treated  Teh  from  the  universal 
point  of  view.  Now  I  came  to  Teh  as  the  sum  total  of  practical 
virtue  or  Wu  Wei,  as  it  is  called  in  the  Tao-Teh-King.  It  is  of 
greatest  importance  that  we  should  get  a  clear  understanding 
of  that  term,  not  only  because  an  understanding  of  the  moral 
tendency  of  the  whole  book  depends  upon  it,  but  also  because 
Wu  Wei  represents  the  wisdom  of  all  ages  on  how  to  begin  to 
travel  on  the  Path,  and  how  to  continue  on  the  Path,  and  on  how 
to  be  identified  with  the  Path. 

The  word  in  literal  translation  is  this:  "Wu"  means  "not 
having  " ;  ' '  to  be  destitute  of  " ;  " Wei ' '  means  ' '  small, "  "  fading 
away,"  "bodiless,"  "secret,"  or,  put  together  in  Wu  Wei  we 
get  the  conception,  "not  doing,"  "non-action,"  "non-assertion." 
That  is  the  literal  signification  of  the  two  words. 

Based  upon  this  literal  translation  of  the  two  Chinese  signs, 
we  may  establish  the  doctrine  which  we  in  the  West  call  Quiet- 
ism, and  which  also  exists  under  the  name  of  Wu  Wei  in  China, 
though  not  elaborated  so  definitely  as  it  was  in  Southern  Europe 
by  John  of  the  Cross,  Molinos,  Teresa,  Madam  Guyon,  Fenelon, 
and  among  the  Germans  by  Angelus  Silecious,  and  many  others. 

Quietism  means  first  of  all,  resignation  and  absolute  sub- 
jection under  the  Universal  Will ;  but  this  is  not  its  main  char- 
acteristics; in  resignation  and  absolute  subjection  it  resembles 
all  other  mysticism.  It  is  also  a  passive  and  receptive  mode 
of  receiving  a  divine  influx  and  making  little  or  nothing  of 
activity  in  religious  matters,  whether  ceremonial  or  moral.  In 
this  respect  it  is  known  to  the  Tao-Teh-King  and  implied  in 
the  word  Wu  Wei!  Next,  Quietism  has  been  practiced  as  a 
disinterested  love  for  a  personal  god.  In  this  last  form  it  is 
not  known  in  China,  simply  because  the  Tao-Teh-King  knows  no 
personal  God.  It  is  the  form  especially  practiced  by  Madam 
Guyon,  Molinos  and  Fenelon.  Practical  forms  of  Quietism, 
such  as  the  form  among  the  Quakers,  is  also  implied  in  Wu  Wei. 
Forms  of  Quietism  which  have  run  into  extremes  of  Pietism  are 
unknown  to  Wu  Wei  and  Tao-Teh-King.  This  is  enough  about 
Quietism  and  Wu  Wei  in  general. 


188  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

If  you  wish  a  literary  and  poetic  interpretation,  but  no 
translation  of  Wu  Wei,  I  can  recommend  no  better  than  that 
little  charming  book  by  Henri  Borel  called  "Wu  Wei,  a  phan- 
tasy based  on  the  philosophy  of  Laotzse."  It  is  indeed  the 
cream  of  the  Tao-Teh-King,  and  if  you  read  that  you  can  get 
no  better  practical  insight  into  the  mind  of  the  Tao-Teh-King 
and  Laotzse.  If  you  can  absorb  the  sense  of  Borel 's  book,  you 
may  forget  all  these  twelve  chapters  of  mine  and  you  shall  find 
that  you  have  lost  nothing  but  the  husks  that  covered  the  nut. 

As  I  said,  this  is  enough  about  Wu  Wei  in  general.  I  will 
now  go  into  details.  AVu  Wei  defined  as  a  principle  for  the 
"conduct  of  life"  means  "non-interference,"  "non-exertion," 
"not-doing,"  "masterly  inactivity";  that  is,  we  must  discard 
all  thoughts  of  helping  nature  in  her  work.  It  is  laid  down 
as  a  sine  qua  non  (LXIII.)  "Act  non-action.  Be  occupied  with 
non-occupation.  Taste  the  tasteless.  Find  your  great  in  what 
is  little,  and  your  many  in  the  few." 

This  is  metaphysical.  But  the  same  chapter  says  also,  "Re- 
compense injury  with  kindness."  That  savors  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  is  intensely  practical  and  useful  in  real  life.  It  is  said 
in  Chapter  LXXIX,  "to  let  matters  rest  will  be  found  to  be  the 
best  way.  Therefore,  the  wise  man  takes  care  of  his  own  part 
of  the  compact  and  exacts  nothing  of  others";  and  "he  who 
undertakes  to  do  the  work  for  the  Great  Architect  rarely  fails 
to  cut  his  own  hands."  It  is  so  hard  for  people  to  learn  that 
to  be  passionless  and  motionless  does  not  mean  stupidity  and 
mental  or  spiritual  ruin,  but  the  contrary.  Rigid  inactivity 
frees  a  man  from  entanglements  and  bad  karma.  All  efforts 
defeat  themselves,  because  they  are  efforts  and  not  spontaneous 
actions.  Wu  Wei  means  "non-interference"  in  politics  as  well 
as  in  people's  personal  affairs.  The  Taoist  demands  that  the 
people  be  left  to  develop  their  own  resources.  Conformity  to 
nature  will  bring  best  results.  In  my  next  chapter  I  shall 
speak  of  Wu  Wei  in  Chinese  politics  and  ancient  history. 

The  metaphysics  of  Wu  Wei  or  "non-action"  is  this,  that 
"emptiness"  or  "vacancy"  or  "space,"  words  which  also  cor- 
rectly translate  Wu  Wei,  is  not  a  negative  force,  but  a  most 
positive  one;  one,  of  which  it  is  said  (V)  that  "though  empty, 
it  never  collapses,  and  the  more  it  is  exercised  the  more  it 
brings  forth."  Emptiness  is  even  called  "the  abyss-mother," 
which  is  "the  root  of  heaven  and  earth";  because  the  sage,  the 
holy  man,  the  mystic,  employs  "emptiness"  as  a  working  prin- 


"  emptiness"  189 

ciple  (VII.),  and  as  lie  "puts  himself  last,  he  is  first;  aban- 
doning himself,  he  is  preserved. ' ' 

To  get  at  the  full  meanings  of  " emptiness ' '  or  "vacancy" 
or  "space"  as  a  translation  of  Wu  Wei  I  must  come  back  to 
the  term  Ku-sen  as  I  explained  it  in  the  last  chapter.  Ku  means 
literally  a  valley,  that  is,  the  space  or  empty  room  enclosed 
by  hills ;  not  the  valley  as  it  appears  to  the  eye  or  as  civilization 
uses  it  for  railroads  or  cities.  It  is  the  cosmic  emptiness 
symbolized,  but  not  marked  off  by  mountain  ridges.  It  is  taught 
(XL):  "thirty  spokes  unite  in  one  nave,  and  by  that  part 
which  is  non-existent  (that  is,  the  hole  in  the  center  of  the  nave) 
it  is  useful  for  a  carriage  wheel.  Clay  is  moulded  into  vessels 
and  by  their  hollowness  they  are  useful  as  vessels.  Roofs  and 
floors,  doors  and  windows,  are  arranged  in  such  a  way  that  they 
make  a  house  by  the  hollowness  they  produce." 

You  understand  then  that  it  is  the  hole  in  the  nave  that 
represents  but  does  not  constitute  the  essential  of  the  wheel, 
that  the  space  inside  of  the  clay  walls  represents  but  does  not 
constitute  the  essential  of  the  vessels,  and  that  the  hollow 
space  of  the  room  stands  for  the  real  part  of  the  house.  Of 
course  it  is  so,  because  the  number  of  spokes,  or  their  length, 
is  certainly  immaterial  to  the  main  office  which  the  wheel  is  to 
serve  as  a  wheel;  and  it  is  immaterial  whether  the  vessel  is  made 
of  clay  or  silver ;  whether  it  is  round  or  square  or  oblong.  The 
main  thing  is  that  it  can  contain  something,  and  the  same  is  the 
case  as  regards  the  house.  In  the  Tao-Teh-King  much  is  made 
of  this  vacuum,  this  emptiness,  this  hollow  space  and  that  ten- 
dency is  thoroughly  oriental  and  mystic. 

That  which  Laotzse  here  illustrates  by  realistic  terms, 
Buddha  also  illustrated  and  in  his  own  characteristic  way.  In 
the  Milinda  Panha  there  is  reported  a  conversation  between 
the  Buddhist  sage  Nagasena  and  King  Milinda,  which  rims  as 
follows.  The  sage  tells  the  king:  "My  fellow-priests  address 
me  as  Nagasena,  but  that  is  merely  a  name,  for  I  am  no  inde- 
pendent ego-entity,  no  atman."  Tne  king  replies:  "If  you 
are  no  ego-entity,  pray  tell  me  who  it  is  that  acts,  that  eats, 

that  drinks,  that  thinks  ?"      And  the  king  continues  to 

ask  if  Nagasena  is  hair,  nails,  lungs,  sensation,  perception  or 
consciousness,  and  receives  a  denial  to  all  his  questions.  Finally 
the  king  comes  to  the  natural  conclusion  that  he  fails  to  discover 
any  Nagasena;  that  Nagasena  is  an  empty  sound  and  at  last 
declares:  "Venerable  Sir,  you  speak  a  falsehood,  a  lie.  There  is 
no  Nagasena." 


190  THE  INNEE  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Then  comes  the  turning  of  the  tables.  The  sage  asks  the 
king  if  he  came  in  a  chariot  or  on  foot,  and  the  king  answers: 
' '  I  came  in  a  chariot. ' '  Nagasena  then  asks :  ' '  What  is  a  char- 
iot."  Is  it  the  axle,  the  wheels,  the  box,  the  yoke  or  the  reins! 
The  king  answers  no!  to  all  the  questions  and  Nagasena  then 
declares:  "I  fail  to  see  any  chariot.  The  word  chariot  is  an 
empty  sound.  Your  majesty  speaks  a  falsehood,  a  lie.  There 
is  no  chariot."  The  king  defends  himself  and  says:  "Vener- 
able Sir;  I  speak  no  lie;  the  word  'chariot'  is  only  a  way  of 
speaking,  a  term,  a  name  for  that  which  is  made  up  of  pole,  axle, 
box,  wheels."  Nagasena  now  draws  the  conclusion  he  has  been 
waiting  to  make,  which  is,  that  in  an  absolute  sense  there  is 
really  no  more  person  or  chariot  than  the  unity  that  is  made  by 
the  combination  of  the  various  phenomenal  parts  that  go  to  make 
a  person  or  a  chariot.  In  other  words  a  person,  a  chariot,  is 
no  reality,  but  only  a  name  for  a  combination. 

In  Plato  the  same  problem  was  discussed  under  the  form 
of  "the  One  and  the  Many."  In  the  Middle  Ages,  it  was  again 
discussed  in  Scholasticism  and  the  problem  was  called  "Nomi- 
nalism and  Realism."  Both  with  Plato  and  in  Scholasticism 
the  result  was  the  same  as  in  Buddhism,  that  is,  the  thing  is 
not  real,  and  the  name  we  give  it  is  a  name  merely  and  not 
an  equivalent  expression  for  reality.  All  mystics  and  Inner 
Life  people  hold  that  the  Real  is  not  known  and  that  which  we 
call  real  is  only  a  name  for  a  mystery.  The  mystery  cannot 
be  known,  but  may  be  communed  with  in  the  Inner  Life. 

When  Laotzse  uses  the  illustration  of  the  valley,  the  hole  in 
the  nave,  he  means  to  lead  the  thoughts  from  the  phenomenal 
to  the  real ;  from  the  name  of  the  thing  to  that  which  in  earlier 
chapters  I  defined  as  Simplicity  and  Stillness. 

In  our  own  conception  we  approach  this  idea  of  emptiness, 
vacuity,  when  we  say  for  instance  "beauty  unadorned  is  most 
adorned."  A  human  body  can  never  be  truly  represented  in 
its  native  beauty  except  by  its  nakedness. 

The  older  mystics  preferred  nakedness  to  dress  while  medi- 
tating, because  nakedness  gave  them  a  freedom,  that  never  can 
be  attained  with  garments  on.  This,  of  course,  may  not  appear 
intelligent  to  those  who  do  not  know  what  meditation  and  con- 
templation are.  We  have  the  same  idea  symbolized  in  the 
hermit,  the  yogi,  who  sacrifices  everything  in  withdrawing  to 
the  desert.  Tie  wishes  to  liberate  himself,  that  freedom  from 
cares  may  help  him  to  escape  all  trammels;  he  literally  "emp- 


WU  WEI  .      191 

ties"  himself.  But  perhaps  the  idea  of  emptiness  may  be  clear 
when  I  tell  you  that  innermost  in  all  Egyptian  temples  there 
was  an  adytum,  a  most  holy  chamber,  and  that  that  chamber 
was  dark  and  empty — why?  It  was  the  residence  of  the  god! 
the  god  resided  in  space  and  space  was  symbolized  by  empti- 
ness !      Can  you  see  the  mystery? 

Here  is  another  illustration  taken  from  a  totally  different 
sphere  of  life.  The  Japanese  have  tea-rooms,  which  they  call 
the  "Abodes  of  Vacancy."  The  tea-room  is  an  empty  room. 
It  is  absolutely  empty,  except  for  what  may  be  placed  there  for 
the  time  being  to  satisfy  some  aesthetic  mood.  In  its  emptiness 
the  tea-room  answers  to  the  adytum  or  the  innermost  of  the 
Egyptian  temples,  which  was  dark  and  empty.  The  tea-room 
gets  its  significance  from  its  temporary  use  by  visitors  and 
their  presence.  It  is  nothing  but  emptiness  in  itself.  The  visit- 
ors give  it  its  character;  they  are  the  main  thing;  the  room 
itself  is  nothing. 

A  room  or  its  name  means  nothing  to  the  Japanese  mystic, 
it  is  its  use  he  inquires  about ;  its  consecration.  Its  name  means 
nothing;  its  character  is  the  all  to  him.  Yet  a  room  is  of  course 
a  room  and  of  architectural  signification  whether  consecrated  or 
not.  In  the  tea-room  the  wall  decorations  are  landscapes,  birds, 
flowers,  rather  than  the  human  figure,  the  latter  being  present 
in  the  person  of  the  beholder  himself.  How  subtle  that,  too! 
How  ingenious  is  not  the  teaching  that  the  tea-room  is  for  silence 
or  solitude,  for  Man;  for  Presence;  for  the  Keal! 

In  short  the  idea  of  emptiness,  nakedness,  is  expressed. 
Nakedness,  that  individual  truth  may  be  revealed.  Again  the 
idea  of  isolation  is  exjiressed  by  the  very  emptiness  of  the  room. 
Man  is  to  learn  emptiness,  which  in  China  and  Japan  means 
vastness  or  the  Great  Mother,  Teh,  the  universal  womb  in  which 
and  out  of  which  the  actual  comes  forth.  Space  is  the  divinity 
thought  of  as  female.  In  India  it  is  Aditi.  the  "boundless  one" 
and  sometimes  Sakti.    In  China  it  is  Ku-sen,  the  "valley  spirit" 

You  see  how  different  the  Oriental  and  mystic  sanctuaries 
are  from  the  Western  and  the  church  peoples !  Look  into  a  real 
blue  sky  and  you  shall  see  how  full  and  rich  it  is  in  its  emptiness ! 
You  will  see  how  much  more  rational  and  sublime  the  Orientals 
are!  How  overwhelmingly  so.  No  cathedral  can  rival  them  in 
their  simplicity  and  forceful  teachings.  Truly  said  Jesus,  that 
the  lilies  in  their  simplicity  or  nakedness  or  emptiness  sur- 
passed Solomon  in  all  his  glory;  lilies  and  the  lotus  are  sane- 


192  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

tuaries  on  account  of  their  very  simplicity,  emptiness  in  their 
purity,  which  is  a  sublime  Nakedness.  We  do  not  obtain  the 
Real  by  simply  "having  our  will."  Obtaining  the  thing  is  not 
obtaining  it  at  all.  The  object  of  our  desire  does  not  fascinate; 
it  is  the  life  which  passes  through  it  that  fascinates.  The  flower 
I  put  in  my  buttonhole  is  a  victim  of  my  greed  and  cannot  be 
expected  to  give  me  any  real  pleasure.  It  is  the  moonlight  that 
bewitches,  not  the  moon.  It  is  beauty  that  elevates,  not  the  art 
object.  It  is  the  dignity  in  a  man  that  a  woman  submits  to,  not 
to  the  mere  man.  And  vice  versa  it  is  the  "eternally  feminine" 
a  real  man  worships,  not  flesh  and  blood. 

We  are  such  "spaces,"  or  "emptiness,"  or  we  ought  to 
empty  ourselves  that  we  may  be  such  a  room  filled  with  the 
mysterious  presence,  symbolized  by  the  Japanese  Tea-room  and 
the  adytum  of  Egyptian  temples.  Any  and  all  endeavor  to  real- 
ize such  a  condition  is  called  Wu  Wei,  "non-action,"  and  you 
must  have  understood  that  it  is  not  a  negativity,  that  on  the 
contrary  it  is  Reality. 

Now  apply  these  later  teachings  to  the  definitions  of  Wu 
Wei,  given  before,  and  you  observe  how  the  terms  already  used 
have  expanded  enormously.  Literally  translated  they  were 
merely  negative  terms  on  our  ordinary  plan  of  life,  but  they 
have  now  grown  to  positive  statements  of  occult  truths.  Wu 
Wei  is  now  no  more  "not  having"  nor  merely  Quietism  and 
resignation;  it  is  now  an  eternal  quality,  a  Presence.  And  that 
presence  is  Teh.  Follow  the  word  further  and  see  how  it  keeps 
on  growing  as  we  get  nearer  and  nearer  to  it,  by  what  I  now 
shall  state.  You  shall  now  hear  why  non-action,  Wu  Wei,  is  so 
highly  praised  in  the  Tao-Teh-King. 

It  is  because  "The  non-existent  enters  into  all  things  with- 
out any  crevice"  (XLIII),  and  by  non-action  there  is  nothing 
that  may  not  be  done"  (XLVIII),  and  "there  is  no  sin  greater 
than  giving  rein  to  desire."  There  is  no  misery  greater  than 
discontent"  (XLVI).  It  is,  therefore,  also  advised,  "Shut  the 
lips  and  close  the  portals  of  eyes  and  ears  and  as  long  as  you 
live  you  will  have  no  trouble;  but  open  your  lips  and  meddle 
with  things  and  as  long  as  you  live  you  will  not  get  out  of 
trouble."     (LII). 

All  these  statements  would  have  no  meaning  if  Wu  Wei,  or 
"non-action,"  had  not  become  something  positive.  The  West 
is  active  in  its  excellence:  It  strives  for  the  first  place  by  doing. 
The  East  is  passive  in  its  excellence;  it  does  not  strive,  it  yields, 


wu  wei  193 

and  it  attains  the  first  place  spiritually,  by  yielding.  It  is  this 
latter  method  which  the  Tao-Teh-King  recommends  on  every 
page,  and  calls  Wu  Wei,  and  understands  to  be  the  essence  of 
Teh. 

It  is  difficult  for  the  West  to  understand  this  method.  The 
method  of  "not-doing"  is  unfortunately  always  understood  as 
doing  nothing,  and  that  is  not  at  all  the  sense  of  "not  doing." 
And  it  can  be  truly  asserted  that  "not  doing"  is  the  under-cur- 
rent of  all  spiritual  life  in  the  world.  Buddhism  and  Christian 
Mysticism  meet  Taoism  in  teaching  the  same  method.  They 
have  their  own  way  with  it,  but  they  aim  exactly  at  the  same 
point. 

Buddhism  in  world-weariness  tells  disciples  to  leave  the 
world  and  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Taoism  does  that,  too,  but 
at  the  same  time  exhorts  its  followers  to  rule  the  world  by  non- 
resistance,  by  subjection,  by  not  desiring  it,  and,  not  even 
acknowledge  to  self  that  they  rule  it  by  that  method.  You  shall 
now  hear  some  singular  teachings  on  that  subject.  Such  as  that 
the  real  world  comes  from  something  not  real  (that  "existence 
comes  from  non-existence")  and  that  "the  sage  manages  af- 
fairs without  doing  anything,  and  conveys  his  instructions  with- 
out the  use  of  speech." 

The  Buddha  looks  upon  the  world  through  the  large  glass 
end  of  the  telescope  and  rejects  all  its  things  as  insignificant, 
because  he  sees  everything  diminutively  as  you  do  when  you 
look  in  at  the  large  end  of  a  telescope.  Taoism  looks  in  from 
the  small  glass  end  of  the  telescope  and  sees  the  "infinitely 
great,"  and  identifies  itself  with  it,  calls  it  Tao  and  Teh  and 
means  thereby  the  Primal  Force,  the  Absolute,  Brahm  (neuter), 
Buddhism  comes  in  from  one  end  of  the  bridge  and  Taoism  from 
the  other.  They  meet  in  the  Middle,  in  the  recognition  that  the 
bridge  is  not  "it,"  but  that  the  Middle  is  the  Path,  the  way  of 
"not  doing." 

As  it  is,  Buddhism  produces  intermediaries  between  God 
and  man,  real  saints.  Taoism  by  Wu  Wei  or  non  action  is  suit- 
able for  a  practical  world  and  makes  wise  men,  who  can  be  in 
the  world  and  rule  it  and  yet  not  be  of  it,  nor  lost  in  it.  A  Tao- 
ist  knows  as  much  as  a  Buddhist  about  sin  and  sorrow  and  the 
illusoriness  of  the  phenomenal  world,  but  he  does  not  run  away 
from  any  of  these.  A  Taoist  knows  no  "Sorrows  of  Wertlier" 
and  "Weltschmertz."  He  practices  Wu  Wei  because  he  has  no 
use  for  fraudulent  phenomena ;  lie  does  not  shun  them  because 


194  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

of  any  pathological  condition.  The  Taoist  by  Wu  Wei  becomes 
the  sage  among  the  unwise ;  the  physician  among  the  sick  and  a 
teacher  to  those  who  are  blind.  A  Buddhist  cannot  fight,  a  Tao- 
ist can ! 

And,  about  "not  doing"  it  should  here  be  stated,  that  the 
Christian  Mystics  of  the  Middle  Ages,  had  a  sensible  under- 
standing of  it  in  spite  of  all  their  insane  ascetic  practices.  They 
were  intensely  practical  people,  which  they  proved  by  their  ac- 
tions during  the  Black  Death  horrors,  and  the  papal  interdict, 
details  of  which  I  must  pass  over  for  the  present.  This  terribly 
active  world  of  ours  places  a  man's  value  on  what  a  man  does, 
not  on  what  he  is.  And  in  overlooking  quality  and  preferring 
quantity,  we  of  the  West  have  lost  the  best  parts  of  life.  G-o 
into  public  institutions  and,  in  many  cases,  you  there  find  moral 
outcasts  in  important  positions,  because  they  can  labor  much. 
If  you  ask  why  the  institution  keeps  such  people,  you  will  be 
told  that  the  institution  is  soulless  and  therefore  does  not  care 
about  morals,  but  only  about  the  amount  of  labor  they  can  per- 
form. Not  so  in  the  Greater  Life  as  lived  by  mystics  and  true 
people.  To  them  the  eternal  personal  value  of  the  worker  is  the 
most  important.  They  place  a  man's  value  not  in  what  he  does, 
but  in  what  he  is ;  upon  quality,  not  upon  quantity.  It  is  that 
which  a  man  is,  which  makes  his  acts  good;  the  deeds  do  not 
make  the  man.  There  is  nothing  to  hinder  a  mystic  from  being 
active  in  the  world.  No;  nothing!  He  will,  however,  not  fol- 
low the  world's  methods.  He  may  sell  his  services  to  the  world, 
but  he  never  sells  his  person  or  his  soul  or  his  convictions. 

Again,  there  is  nothing  the  modern  man  will  object  to  more 
vigorously  than  to  be  told  to  be  quiet,  to  lie  low,  to  become  rec- 
onciled to  things,  even  if  they  are  bad.  We  cannot  blame  him. 
He  has  seen  how  church  and  state  have  frightfully  misused  the 
principle  of  quietness,  and  that  is  his  reason  for  fears  and  non- 
compliance. 

Rebellion  against  restraint  is  the  keynote  to  all  that  is  going 
on  in  modern  progressive  society,  politics,  social  affairs,  yet  I 
must  maintain  against  all  contradiction  that  the  principle  of 
Wu  Wei  is  fundamentally  right  and  that  we  shall  never  come 
to  a  true  reorganization  of  society  unless  we  re-adopt  it;  not  as 
it  is  preached  by  the  hirelings  of  the  various  crafts,  but  as 
Nature  enforces  it  and  as  the  Tao-Teh-King  teaches  it.  Nature 
everywhere  calls  for  submission.  On  this  subject  of  submit- 
ting we  must  persuade  our  fellowmen  and  ourselves  that  Wu 


wu  wei  195 

Wei  does  not  mean  the  ruin  of  ourselves  and  our  eternal  pur- 
poses and  aims.  It  means  that  we  must  still  the  noise  of  the 
senses  and  the  clamorous  desires,  which  constantly  are  in  our 
way  for  the  attainment  of  truth,  and  we  must  also  eliminate  all 
intellectual  notions.  All  sages,  and  none  of  them  have  been 
hypocrites  or  time-servants,  have  realized  for  themselves  and 
have  taught  their  disciples  that  life  is  only  found  by  losing  it; 
that  "a  man  is  rich  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  things  he 
can  afford  to  let  alone"  (Thoreau) ;  that  desires  are  limitless 
and  cause  all  our  troubles;  that  they  only  create  more  thirst, 
as  does  salt  water  when  we  drink  it ;  that  our  senses,  our  tem- 
pers, are  to  be  used  but  are  not  to  rule  us,  and  that  death  fol- 
lows if  they  rule;  that  our  desires  sing  like  the  Sirens  of  old 
and  prevent  our  hearing  "the  voice  of  the  silence,"  and,  that 
they  color  the  images  that  arise  in  our  minds  and  consequently 
blurr  them  and  their  truth;  that  silence,  solitude  and  lowliness 
are  the  soil,  the  sun,  the  air,  in  which  spiritual  life  grows.  All 
these  facts  of  the  spiritual  life  we  must  persuade  ourselves  and 
our  fellowmen  to  learn  and  to  submit  to.  They  are  wisdom! 
They  are  power!  They  are  Wu  Wei.  On  none  of  these  points 
are  we  expected  to  destroy  ourselves,  whether  by  submitting 
to  the  will  of  another  or  to  an  abstract  principle.  We  are  simply 
to  bow  down  to  wisdom,  to  place  the  individual  under  the  uni- 
versal and  no  more.  It  ought  to  be  easy,  for  as  one  master 
said :  ' '  the  yoke  is  easy  and  the  burden  light. ' ' 

But  let  it  at  once  be  understood  that  Wu  Wei,  Quietism,  is 
not  merely  submission,  not  merely  a  negative  virtue.  It  is  in 
itself  very  positive.  A  Quietist  radiates  happiness,  and  good 
cheer  flows  from  him.  A  Quietist  is  never  discouraged,  and 
is  therefore  able  to  be  a  rallying  point  for  others.  A  Quietist 
is  resolute  and  never  turns  back  from  his  purpose,  and  his  pur- 
pose is  always  sublime.  A  Quietist  is  brave,  and  others  have 
confidence  in  him.  His  presence  inspires  confidence.  And 
all  this  because  we  feel  his  presence  permeated  with  a  deep 
power,  and  his  nearness  gives  us  the  impression  of  something 
sublime.  Ask  anybody  who  has  met  a  great  soul,  and  they 
will  tell  you  about  the  influence  that  comes  from  him.  In  the 
third  chapter,  I  gave  an  illustration  of  a  Quietist,  in  the  beggar 
at  the  church  door,  who  converted  Tauler. 


"  NON-ACTION  " 
XIII. 

YOU  remember  that  "non-action"  does  not  mean  inactiv- 
ity; doing  nothing  and  expecting  stewed  chickens  to 
come  in  through  the  windows,  ready  for  the  table.  Wu 
Wei  or  "non-action"  means  having  nothing  to  do  with 
the  incidental,  the  trivial,  the  "passing  show,"  the  phenomenal, 
and  devoting  oneself  exclusively  and  with  energy  to  the  essen- 
tial and  the  real.  "Wu  Wei  is  simply  the  Chinese  name  from 
the  Tao-Teh-King  for  the  idea  and  teaching  found  among  all 
kinds  of  mystics,  namely,  that  the  earthly,  the  temporal,  is  a 
prison,  a  chain,  a  hindrance  and  an  obstruction  on  the  Path, 
and  must  therefore  be  let  alone  and  shunned. 

How  shall  a  Taoist  attain  results  or  do  his  duty  to  the 
world  in  which  he  lives  ?  The  doctrine  of  Wu  Wei  does  not  allow 
the  use  of  means  or  efforts.  Taoism  teaches  distinctly  "avoid 
activity,"  "dispense  with  the  use  of  means"  and  Tao,  as  you 
read  in  another  chapter,  is  called  "nameless  simplicity";  it 
teaches : 

"Simplicity  without  a  name 

Is  free  from  all  external  aim. 

With  no  desire,  at  rest  and  still, 

All  things  go  right,  as  of  their  own  will." 

And  why  should  they  not?  The  world  is  not  ours !  Who 
set  us  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  universe?  Surely  nobody! 
We  cannot  manage  our  own  affairs,  how  much  less  those  of  the 
world's ! 

The  sage  "takes  no  action"  (XXIX.)  because  all  efforts  with 
a  personal  purpose  are  sure  to  fail.  It  is  said  (XXIX.)  that 
"things"  are  spirit-like  and  cannot  be  got  by  active  doing.  He 
who  would  so  win  them,  destroys  them.       He  who  would  hold 


NON-ACTION  197 

them  in  his  grasp,  loses  them."  That  is  the  way  a  Taoist 
does  his  duty  and  avoids  cutting  his  hands  in  the  world's 
machinery.  Things  are  " spirit-like,"  that  is,  they  slip  out  of 
our  hands  like  elastic  rubber  bands  and  spring  back  with  pain. 
Things,  so  called,  are  not  so  real  as  many  of  us  think.  They 
are  merely  centers  of  force  and  that  is  the  reason  we  cannot 
"get  hold  of  them  by  active  doings."  Things,  so  called,  are 
time  and  space  combinations  of  activities  beyond  our  reach.  We 
may  and  we  do  use  these  combinations,  but  they  are  only,  so 
to  say,  loaned  us ;  they  are  not  subject  to  us. 

We  get  things  worth  having  without  excessive  efforts.  Have 
you  not  observed  sometimes  that  that  which  you  got  and  which 
was  of  any  real  value  to  you  came  like  a  gift,  not  by  an  effort 
of  yours?  You  called  it  luck,  good  luck,  and  let  it  pass.  Was 
that  quite  right?  You  may  have  thought  it  was  good  karma. 
Was  that  enough  ?  You  may  have  said  ' '  God  is  good  " ;  ' '  this 
was  providential."  Was  that  a  right  attitude?  Well,  you  may 
have  said  or  thought  thus,  but  you  ought  also  to  have  with- 
drawn to  solitude  and  silence  and  studied  the  law,  which  teaches 
that  we  get  things  worth  having  without  efforts,  by  Wu  Wei, 
and  because  things  have  their  own  way  without  regard  to  us; 
they  crush  us  if  we  are  in  the  way ;  they  lift  us  if  we  are  obedi- 
ent. We  live  in  a  house  not  ours.  We  are  tenants  merely. 
If  we  adapt  ourselves  to  the  laws  of  this  cosmic  house,  we 
call  the  world,  it  will  be  well  with  us.  If  we  disobey,  the  land- 
lord dispossesses  us.  Retirement  will  reveal  many  mysteries 
of  Wu  Wei,  of  "non-action,"  and  you  cannot  afford  to  ignore 
that  law.  By  "non-action"  or  by  Wu  Wei,  all  good  things  are 
gotten  and  brought  about.  Strange  as  it  seems  to  all  of  us,  till 
we  have  experienced  the  fact,  it  is  nevertheless  the  moral  law 
of  our  lives.      And  it  ought  not  be  hard  to  learn  to  obey. 

This  is  the  way  we  should  live  according  to  the  Tao-Teh 
King,  (LXIII.),  "This  is  the  way  of  Tao  and  Teh  (or  the  true 
path)  to  act  without  thinking  of  acting;  to  conduct  affairs 
without  feeling  the  trouble  of  them ;  to  taste  without  discerning 
any  flavor ;  to  consider  the  small  as  great  and  the  few  as  many 
and  to  recompense  injury  with  love  and  kindness."  If  we  act 
that  way,  we  are  in  Teh  and  follow  Wu  Wei.  This  for  the 
present  is  enough  about  Wu  Wei  in  the  individual  life.  Now, 
about  Wu  Wei  in  the  public  life,  in  the  state,  in  politics. 

I  shall  now  quote  Laotzse  and  Kwangtzse  on  the  paradis- 
iacal state  of  early  China,  a  state  that  was  a  result  of  Wu  Wei, 
and,  that  you  may  be  able  to  get  some  chronological  idea  of 


198  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

the  time  when  that  state  existed,  I  will  tell  you  what  European 
scholars  have  found  out  regarding  early  Chinese  chronology  and 
history. 

Chinese  history,  before  771  B.  C.  or  up  to  about  150  years 
before  Laotzse,  is  nothing  but  a  record  of  internal  feuds  between 
many  and  various  states  or  settlements,  and,  toward  the  end  of 
that  period,  a  record  of  striving  for  the  establishment  of  an 
empire,  which  is  finally  established  in  771  B.  C.  The  next 
period  of  history,  from  771  B.  C.  to  221  B.  C,  is  a  period 
of  struggle  for  the  total  extinction  of  feudal  power,  which  is 
finally  extinguished  totally  in  221  B.  C.  by  the  first  emperor  of 
Tsin.  Before  all  this  lies  a  period  of  "paradise,"  if  I  may 
so  call  it,  and  most  of  that  which  Laotzse  says  about  the 
"people  of  ancient  days,"  relates  to  that  period  which,  gen- 
erally speaking,  I  should  say  was  at  least  three  to  four  thousand 
years  ago,  counting  back  from  to-day. 

We  are  told  in  the  Tao-Teh-King  that  Tao,  as  Teh,  ruled 
the  world  at  first  and  at  that  time  the  world  was  in  a  paradisia- 
cal state.  Taoists  do  not  tell  us  how  long  it  lasted,  but  Laotzse 
says  (XVILL),  it  lasted  till  "Tao  ceased  to  be  observed,"  and 
"Kwang-tzse  explains  what  this  means.  He  calls  that  age  "the 
age  of  Perfect  Virtue"  or  "the  age  of  Teh"  and  describes  it  as 
follows:  "In  that  age,  they  attached  no  value  to  knowledge  and 
did  not  employ  men  of  action  (soldiers  or  police).  Superiors 
were  no  more  than  the  higher  branches  of  a  tree;  and  the 
people  lived  freely  in  the  Open.  They  were  upright  and  cor- 
rect, without  knowing  that  to  be  so  was  to  be  righteous;  they 
loved  one  another,  without  knowing  that  to  be  real  goodness; 
they  were  honest,  without  knowing  that  to  be  loyalty;  they  ful- 
filled their  engagements,  without  knowing  that  to  do  so,  was 
to  act  in  good  faith;  in  their  daily  life  they  employed  the  ser- 
vices of  one  another  without  thinking  that  they  were  conferring 
or  receiving  gifts.  Because  they  lived  that  way  we  cannot  find 
any  trace  of  their  actions  and  no  records  of  their  affairs-  and 
that  is  all  in  their  favor  and  to  their  glory."  These  people 
lived  in  Wu  Wei  and  were  full  of  Teh.  Let  me  call  them  simple- 
minded  in  the  best  sense  of  that  phrase.  Kwang-tzse  gives 
several  other  descriptions  of  "the  age  of  perfect  virtue,"  but 
this  will  be  sufficient  for  the  present.  I  will  only  mention  that 
he  tells  us  that  people  in  those  days  did  not  form  themselves 
into  castes  and  classes  of  social  distinctions;  they  were  all  alike 
and  lived  according  to  nature;  they  were,  as  he  said,  "on  terms 


TH«   SIMPLE   LIFE  199 

of  equality  with  all  creatures,  as  forming  one  family."  Surely 
we  are  far  remote  from  any  such  state  of  nature  to-day  1 

Let  me  warn  you!  you  must  not  take  this  description  to 
mean  that  the  early  Chinese  were  savages,  as  some  scientists 
and  sociologists  will  explain  that  state  to  be.  These  people 
were  far  from  savagery,  if  ever  their  ancestors  had  been  sav- 
ages. They  were  tillers  of  the  soil  and  knew  the  loom.  Such 
people  are  not  savages.  The  loom  is  sufficient  evidence  that 
they  were  not  savages.  Savages  do  not  know  the  loom  and 
cannot  weave.  They  were  simple.  Theirs  was  the  simple 
life;  they  did  not  talk  it,  they  lived  it. 

The  reason  why  "the  simple  life"  was  lost,  says  Kwang- 
tzse,  as  you  heard,  was  that  the  people  began  to  aim  at  "know- 
ledge" rather  than  life,  and  at  that  which  later  was  called 
"culture."  (On  this  subject,  of  culture  as  a  hindrance  to 
spiritual  life,  I  have  already  spoken  in  an  earlier  chapter.) 

Laotzse  and  Kwang-tzse  again  and  again  repeat  that  the 
sage  (I.)  constantly  tries  to  keep  the  people  without  "know- 
ledge" and  without  desire,  and,  where  there  are  those  who 
have  "knowledge,"  to  keep  them  from  acting  their  own  will, 
and  where  there  are  those  who  have  will,  to  weaken  it.  In 
chapter  VII.  Laotzse  points  to  Heaven  and  Earth  as  patterns 
for  the  sage.  They  have  no  personal  or  private  ends;  they 
do  not  seek  "knowledge"  or  cultivate  desires.  Nature  in  all 
movements  is  placid  and  contented  (like  water)  and  not  self- 
conscious.      Of  this  I  have  also  spoken  in  an  earlier  chapter. 

Kwang-tzse  tells  a  grim  story  of  how  men  came  to  lose 
themselves  in  culture,  so  called:  "The  ruler  of  the  southern 
ocean  was  named  "The  Hasty"  and  he  of  the  northern  "Heed- 
less." The  ruler  of  the  center  was  named  "Chaos."  "Heed- 
less" and  "Hasty"  met  often  with  "Chaos"  and  were  treated 
well.  They  consulted  together  how  they  might  repay  his  kind- 
ness and  said:  "Men  have  all  seven  orifices  for  purposes  of  the 
senses,  such  as  seeing,  hearing,  but  this  poor  ruler  has  none.  Let 
us  try  and  make  them  for  him.  Accordingly  they  cut  one  orifice 
in  him  every  day  and  at  the  end  of  the  seven  days  Chaos  died." 
Fitting  Chaos  with  senses  arid  thereby  with  desires,  they  killed 
him. 

About  the  government  by  the  sage,  the  Tao-Teh-King  (III.), 
says  that  it  consists  in  "emptying  the  heart  of  the  people," 
that  is,  of  desires,  and  in  "weakening  the  will  of  the  people," 
that  is,  "the  will  to  live,"  Tanha.  By  such  "non-action  noth- 
ing is  ungoverned,"  and  why?       Because  Tao  and  Teh  then 


200  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

govern.  It  is  the  interference  of  the  governor,  be  he  imperial 
or  democratic,  in  the  affairs  that  hinders  the  actions  of  Tao 
and  Teh.  And  this  has  been  the  general  rule,  for  the  better 
and  the  worse  in  the  Chinese  empire  and  elsewhere. 

And  so  it  is  to-day.  And  Laotzse's  advice  (XIX.)  is  a 
good  one  to-day.  It  was:  " Abandon  your  saintliness  (that  is 
a  hint  to  preachers) ;  put  away  your  cleverness  (that  is  a  hint 
to  so-called  statesmen),  and  the  people  would  be  benefitted  a 
hundredfold.  Abandon  your  charity  and  put  away  your  right- 
eousness and  people  would  become  more  brotherly  and  more 
kind;  put  away  your  riches  and  scheming  and  there  will  be  no 
robbers  or  frauds  (that  is  a  hint  to  those  who  establish  chari- 
ties, like  universities,  hospitals,  museums,  after  they  have 
amassed  enormous  wealth  by  robbery  of  all  kinds.)"  Culture  is 
insufficient  for  the  highest  purpose: 

"Hold  fast  to  that  which  will  endure, 
Show  thyself  simple;  preserve  thee  pure; 
Thine  own  keep  small;  thy  desires  poor." 

If  any  of  you  would  object  and  say  that  no  progress  is 
possible  under  such  conditions,  I  am  ready  to  answer  you;  first 
by  the  question:  How  do  you  know?  Has  it  ever  been  tried! 
And  next  I  will  declare  that  that  which  we  call  "progress"  is  a 
sad  caricature  of  that  which  your  own  ideas  demand. 

Thus  far  I  have  been  speaking  more  or  less  abstractly.  I 
must  therefore  bring  this  subject  of  Wu  Wei  or  "non-action" 
down  on  a  practical  plane,  down  to  our  level.  And  I  can  do  it 
by  employing  four  forms  of  Tao,  of  which  Laotzse  speaks.  The 
first  form  is  called  humility.  How  does  the  Tao-Teh-King  itself 
explain  humility?  Here  is  the  answer  (LXL),  "When  a  great 
kingdom  takes  a  lowly  position,  it  becomes  the  place  of  concourse 
for  the  world;  it  is  the  wife  of  the  world.  The  wife  by  quiet- 
ness invariably  conquers  the  man.  And  since  quietness  is  also 
lowliness,  therefore  a  great  kingdom  by  lowliness  towards  a 
small  kingdom,  may  take  that  small  kingdom.  And  a  small 
kingdom,  by  lowliness  towards  a  small  kingdom,  may  take  that 
small  kingdom.  And  a  small  kingdom,  by  lowliness  towards  a 
great  kingdom  may  take  that  great  kingdom.  So  that  either 
the  one  stoops  to  conquer,  or  the  other  is  low  and  conquers. 
If  the  great  kingdom  only  desires  to  attach  to  itself  and  nourish 
(that  is,  to  benefit),  others,  then  the  small  kingdom  will  only 
wish  to  enter  its  service.  But,  in  order  that  both  may  have 
their  wish  the  great  should  be  lowly." 


WU  WEI  201 

In  the  same  vein  it  is  said  (XXXIX.)  "  princes  and  kings 
speak  of  themselves  as  orphans,  lonely  men  and  wheelless 
carts." 

In  the  67th  chapter  Laotzse  associates  with  humility  what 
he  calls  his  three  "precious  things  or  jewels,"  which  are: 
gentleness,  economy,  and  shrinking  from  taking  precedence  of 
others.  "With  gentleness,"  he  says,  "I  can  be  bold;  with  econ- 
omy I  can  be  liberal ;  shrinking  from  taking  precedence  of  others, 
I  become  a  vessel  of  the  highest  honor." 

These  three,  gentleness,  economy  and  shrinking  from  taking 
precedence  of  others,  together  with  humility,  are  the  four  forms 
of  Tao  or  rather  of  Teh,  which  make  Wu  Wei  possible  for  us 
in  daily  life.  We  are  only  too  apt  to  say  that  the  bad  succeed 
in  this  world  and  that  the  good  go  down.  1  question  the  truth 
of  the  assertion.  Look  closely  and  you  shall  find  as  I  have 
found,  that  it  is  not  so.  There  is  justice  everywhere;  karma 
rules. 

To  understand  fully  how  Wu  Wei  or  the  principle  of  non- 
action can  work  as  a  principle  in  state  government,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  I  should  explain  the  fundamentals  of  the  Chinese  state 
organism,  which  is  so  different  from  ours. 

The  life  of  Nature-peoples,  as  I  call  them,  or  of  people  who 
"live  according  to  Nature,"  as  we  say  popularly,  is  like  that  of  a 
child. 

I  will  take  as  an  example  a  child  four  or  five  years  old.  How 
does  it  live?  Does  it  know  that  it  lives?  Can  it  have  any 
consciousness  or  reflective  thought  about  its  own  existence?  No! 
none!  The  moment  it  has  reflective  consciousness  of  itself  it  is 
no  more  a  child. 

Excepting  the  important  fact,  that  the  child  lives  outside 
its  mother,  and,  that  of  course  is  most  important,  it  is  after  all 
still  so  much  dependent  upon  its  mother  that  it  can  be  said,  that 
it  is  still  in  the  womb,  or  in  the  mother's  environment,  and 
bound  so  closely  that  it  depends  upon  her  altogether.  In  the 
main  it  is  merely  a  hereditary  expression  of  the  race,  family 
or  society,  in  which  it  lives.  The  child  lives  in  generals,  not  in 
particulars,  in  Wu  Wei,  not  in  self-assertion. 

The  child  does  not  live  its  own  life,  strictly  speaking.  The 
mother  lives  for  it.  thinks  for  it,  plans  for  it,  feeds  it,  clothes  it. 
The  child  lives  according  to  nature,  at  least  in  normal  cases. 
It  is  not  concerned  in  any  way  with  the  problems  which  it  meets 
later  in  life.      It  does  not  even  know  that  thev  exist,  and  could 


202  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

not  be  made  to  understand  them  if  they  were  presented.  The 
child  may  say  "I"  about  itself  and  it  may  more  or  less  selfishly 
assert  itself  in  cries  and  volitions  and  be  naughty,  but  it  dees  not 
know  what  it  is  to  be  naughty  except  by  being  told,  nor  has  it 
any  shame,  gratitude  or  any  so  called  moral  sense,  except  by 
drill.  The  child  has  neither  intellectual  nor  moral  pains  or 
joys.  It  has  no  aesthetic  feelings  for  the  beautiful  either.  But 
the  child  is  imitative.  Imitation  is  the  most  characteristic  thing 
about  it  and  has  been  so  since  the  second  half  of  its  first  year 
of  existence,  and,  the  workings  of  imitation  show  the  presence 
of  will  and  becomes  the  beginning  of  learning  and  of  individual 
development. 

But  if  the  child  does  not  possess  these  ideas,  it  normally 
has  all  the  joy  and  pains  that  come  from  the  play  of  impulse  and 
from  feeding,  sleeping  and  growing,  including  the  pains  that 
come  naturally  from  teething  and  the  like  of  children's  troubles. 
Its  little  imagination  entertains  itself  when  the  child  hears 
stories  told.  And  the  child  is  a  complex  thing  of  personal 
pride,  habits  and  self-consciousness.  Spontaneously  and  with- 
out duplicity,  formality  or  reserve,  its  mental  life  comes  out  in 
action.  It  has  no  prejudice  and  conventionality  till  these  two 
are  implanted  by  social  formalities  or  by  the  parent's  vanity. 

In  these,  the  positive  sides  of  its  life,  the  child  is  just  as 
dependent  as  it  is  in  the  negative  described  before. 

Under  both  conditions  it  can  be  said  that  the  child  cares 
for  nothing;  it  takes  life  as  it  comes.  The  child  born  among 
poor  people  is  no  worse  off  for  the  moment  than  that  born 
among  the  rich.  Neither  of  them  know  what  riches  or  poverty 
are. 

•The  child  has  possibilities  for  growth,  for  intellect,  for 
spiritual  sense,  but  it  is  practically  an  animal  in  its  life.  The 
difference  lies  in  the  possibilities.  The  child  is  a  possible 
human  being,  but  no  real  one  yet. 

This  criticism  is  by  no  means  unfavorable  to  the  child.  On 
the  contrary.  For  good  and  for  bad  the  child  is  a  dependent 
creature  as  I  have  described.  It  lives  in  generals,  not  in  par- 
ticulars; in  Wu  Wei,  not  in  self-assertions.  As  it  is,  we  say 
correctly  that  the  child  lives  according  to  nature. 

Hear  how  an  old  Tao-ist  talks  about  a  life  according  to 
nature.       Huai-nan-tzu  said: 

"What  is  it  that  we  mean  when  we  talk  about  the  natural 
or  inherent?  It  is  that  which  is  homogeneous,  pure,  simple,  unde- 


HUMILITY  203 

filed,  unvarnished,  upright,  luminous  and  immaculate,  and  which 
has  never  undergone  any  mixture  or  adulteration  from  the 
beginning.  And  what  is  the  human  or  artificial?  It  is  that 
which  has  been  adulterated  with  shrewdness,  crookedness,  dex- 
terity, hypocrisy  and  deceit;  that  which  bends  itself  into  com- 
pliance with  the  world,  and  defers  to  the  customs  of  the  age. 
For  instance,  the  ox  has  horns  and  a  divided  hoof,  while  the 
horse  has  a  dishevelled  mane  and  a  complete  foot;  this  is  the 
heavenly  or  natural.  But  if  you  put  a  bit  into  the  horse's 
mouth  and  pierce  the  nose  of  the  ox,  this  is  human  or  arti- 
ficial." 

The  following  is  in  the  same  vein:  "If  Nature  has  given 
you  black  hair,  don't  try  to  dye  it  yellow;  if  you  have  a  sallow 
or  pale  complexion,  don't  daub  it  with  pink  paint;  if  your  waist 
measures  five  and  twenty  inches  around,  don't  try  to  squeeze  it 
into  eighteen.  All  such  attempts  are  violations  of  Nature,  and 
are  sure  to  bring  their  own  punishment  along  with  them." 

As  you  see,  those  old  people  knew  perfectly  well  what  it  is 
to  be  natural.  The  principle  of  naturalness  is  the  principle 
of  the  child's  life  and  this  principle  may  be  attained  by  Wu  Wei. 

Now,  all  this  about  the  child  applies  to  peoples.  It  is  for 
that  reason  that  I  have  entered  upon  so  many  details.  It 
applies  directly  to  the  conditions  of  Chinese  life  in  which  the 
Tao-Teh-King  plays  such  an  important  part. 

I  must  now  describe  the  Chinese  life  and  let  me  say  to 
you  that  neither  this  description  nor  the  one  of  the  child  is 
merely  for  your  entertainment.  The  Chinese  life  of  which  you 
now  shall  hear,  and,  that  of  the  child  of  which  you  just  heard, 
are  looking  glasses  that  faithfully  reflect  conditions  in  which 
you  and  I  now  are,  or,  which  you  and  I  have  just  left,  or  are 
about  leaving.  Bear  in  mind  that  Tao  and  the  early  followers 
of  Laotzse  are  not  included  among  the  Chinese  I  describe,  nor 
is  the  village  life  as  described  in  the  Tao-Teh-King  to  be 
included. 

The  Chinese  is  an  old  man  still  in  the  cradle.  When  I  say 
that,  I  have  really  given  his  characteristic  in  a  nutshell.  He  is 
old;  a  very,  very  old  race;  he  seems  to  be  a  remnant  of  pre- 
historic times;  but  he  is  still  in  the  cradle,  that  is,  he  is  still 
a  child  as  far  as  historic  life  is  concerned;  just  such  a  child  as 
I  have  described.  He  is  still  living  "according  to  nature." 
But  as  he  has  not  passed  through  the  evolution  of  mind  and 
regeneration  of  spirit,  he  is  still  in  the  cradle,  or  nature's  womb. 


204  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

In  this  respect  he  is  like  a  boy  that  never  becomes  a  man. 
Go  to  China  and  you  shall  see  that  people  of  all  ages  play 
children's  games,  knowing  nothing  higher;  that  state  officials 
are  spanked,  as  are  children  where  spanking  is  the  custom. 
You  shall  find  them  so  naive  that  you  cannot  understand  them, 
even  when  you  know  their  language;  exactly  as  it  is  with  the 
true  child.  Read  their  books  and  you  shall  see  that  their 
writings  are  merely  aphorisms  and  totally  lack  rational  connec- 
tion of  sentences,  and,  that  is  because  the  Chinese  mind  lacks 
perspective.  How  funny  a  child's  letter  is!  How  funny  a 
Chinese  painting  without  perspective!  You  shall  also  notice 
that  Chinese  writings  are  mostly  collections  of  traditions  and 
lack  the  incentives  to  actions  now  or  in  the  future.  They  live 
in  the  past.      That,  too,  is  the  child. 

In  China  you  will  see  that  agriculture  is  a  religious  and 
devotional  cult.  By  toil,  not  by  psalm  singing  or  flattery  they 
worship  Mother  Nature.  Labor  is  to  a  Chinese  a  religious  act. 
Nature  is  to  him,  as  it  is  to  other  primitive  people,  the  Mother. 
They  kneel  down  and  kiss  the  earth.  Our  farmers  think  only 
of  crops,  and  they  spread  manures,  plow  and  harrow  for  self- 
interest,  not  on  account  of  any  ideas  of  sacrifice,  offerings,  or 
like  cults.      The  Chinaman's  offering  is  work,  hard  labor. 

The  Chinese  mind  is  natural  history  rather  than  psychology. 
It  resembles  the  child  described.  Our  education  aims  at  new 
developments,  but  the  Chinese  object  is  preservation  of  results, 
reverence  for  tradition;  quickening  of  memory  rather  than 
thinking.  He  imitates  and  does  not  care  to  create  anything 
new. 

His  art  is  craft,  artifice,  and  hin  language  is  monosyllabic, 
totally  without  grammatical  reflective  forms.  What  we  do  by 
grammatical  forms,  such  as  tense,  or  case,  he  does  by  modula- 
tion of  voice.  You  will  remember  the  curious  mistakes  of  mis- 
sionaries, which  I  mentioned  in  a  former  chapter,  all  caused  by 
false  intonation. 

His  music  contains  no  inner  note.  It  is  merely  sounds  in 
succession,  noise.  His  village  life  is  merely  an  extension  of 
a  number  of  families  living  in  one  place  and  with  a  so-called 
governor  appointed  over  them  by  the  emperor.  Somewhat  like 
our  territories;  patriarchal  government  we  call  it  in  history. 
City  life  as  we  know  it  in  theory  is  totally  unknown.  Where 
it  has  been  attempted  under  foreign  influence  it  even  beats  the 
outcast  life  of  such  places  as  London,  New  York,  or  Yokahama, 


THE   CHINESE  205 

in  degradation  and  depravity,  as  might  be  expected.      I  need 
mention  only  Shanghai  as  an  example. 

Religion  as  a  transcendental  longing  and  spiritual  regenera- 
tion is  as  incomprehensible  to  the  Chinese  as  it  is  to  the  child. 
He  knows  only  this  life  and  thinks  his  departed  ancestors  live  in 
the  astral  spheres,  and  he  fears  them.  You  should  remember  that 
this  does  not  apply  to  Tao-ists. 

We  are  able  to  make  a  tolerably  clear  picture  of  the  state 
of  things  in  the  five  centuries  from  771  to  220  B.  C.  I  shall 
speak  of  some  of  the  points  that  relate  to  my  subject. 

Religion  in  a  Western  sense  did  not  exist;  even  the  word 
did  not  exist.  Neither  did  notions  or  words  for  church  or 
temple  or  priestly  caste  exist.  "Gods"  were  known  and  of- 
fenses against  "gods"  were  defined,  but  people  had  not  yet 
sunk  down  to  too  much  belief  in  "gods,"  and  extravagant 
belief  was  called  superstition.  You  see  then  that  some  purity 
or  originality  still  existed.  "Sin"  meant  no  offense  against 
a  god,  but  an  infraction  of  nature's  general  laws,  such  as  these 
laws  were  defined  by  imperial  command  or  by  vassal  princes 
delegated  to  define  them.  When  the  emperor  defined  these 
laws  he  was  called  ' '  son  of  heaven. ' ' 

Prayer  was  common  enough.  Here  is  an  illustration.  When 
the  Chou  conqueror  fell  ill,  his  brother,  later  regent,  prayed 
to  Heaven  for  the  recovery  of  his  brother  and  offered  himself 
as  a  substitute ;  the  clerk  was  instructed  to  commit  the  offer  to 
writing,  and  this  solemn  document  was  locked  up.  Other  similar 
instances  are  on  record.  It  is  even  recorded  that  the  emperor 
of  Tsin,  who  was  steeped  in  Laotzse's  philosophy,  in  210  B.  C. 
prayed  and  offered  sacrifices  because  of  a  bad  dream,  and  was 
thus  advised  by  his  soothsayers. 

But  though  the  Chinese  had  to  some  extent  sunk  to  sacri- 
ficial prayers,  and  the  blood  of  the  victim  was  constantly  called 
for,  they  were  yet  ignorant  of  the  occidental  ideas  connected 
with  conscience,  fear  of  God,  mortal  sins,  repentance,  absolution, 
alms-giving,  self-mortification,  charity,  sackcloth  and  ashes, 
praise,  glorification;  all  those  notions  which  to  Jews,  Christians 
and  Mohammedans  mean  so  much. 

Morally  he  is  a  materialist  in  the  extreme;  his  manners  and 
customs  do  not  rest  upon  spiritual  values,  but  upon  extreme 
realities  and  the  expedient.  His  ethics  is  Nature-life,  both 
good  and  bad.      That  is  childlike  also. 

All  this  applies  to  the  Chinese  in  general. 


206  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KINQ 

In  China,  there  are,  as  elsewhere  three  classes  of  people: 
(1)  The  mass;  (2)  the  learned  and  (3)  the  ruling  class.  The 
relationship  of  the  people  and  prince  may  be  seen  from  a  quota- 
tion from  Mentgzse's  works. 

' 'The  people  are  the  most  important  and  the  prince  the 
least  important  (because),  the  people  can  make  the  prince,  but 
the  prince  cannot  make  the  people. ' '  Further  elucidation  of  this 
statement  that  the  prince  is  of  little  importance  you  can  find  in 
the  Tao-Teh-King. 

In  all  of  this  you  recognize  the  child.  Some  of  it  is  child- 
ishness and  some  of  it  is  child-likeness  and  the  child-likeness  is 
the  condition  we  come  into  by  means  of  Wu  Wei  or  "non 
action,"  as  it  is  called.  The  childishness  of  it  is  the  result  of 
activity  or  interference  with  Tao  and  Teh. 

I  have  given  you  a  faithful  description  of  the  psychological 
conditions  of  the  child  and  of  the  Chinese  people.  In  your 
opinion  none  of  these  conditions  are  desirable,  because  you  nat- 
urally judge  them  from  the  modern  point  of  view  of  history  and 
from  an  advanced  point  of  growth  in  evolution.  I  will  not 
say  that  those  conditions  suit  us  to-day,  that  would  be  absurd 
and  impossible  to  prove,  but  I  will  say  that  the  principles  back 
of  the  child's  conditions  and  the  principles  back  of  the  China- 
man's condition  are  most  desirable,  and  moreover,  I  will  say  that 
they  must  be  recovered.  I  will  put  some  arguments  before 
you  to  prove  both  of  my  assertions. 

The  principle  that  lies  in  Wu  Wei  and  which  is  back  of  the 
child  and  of  that  condition  I  described  the  Chinaman  in,  is  in 
occidental  philosophical  language  called  by  various  names,  some 
of  the  most  important  of  which  I  will  mention.  The  first  is 
immediacy.  The  term  explains  a  condition  which  is  original, 
or  so  direct  and  unconditioned  that  it  comes  without  any  efforts 
or  means;  and,  which  needs  no  proof.  It  means  that  which 
is  natural  to  us;  the  heart's  revelations;  the  truths  implanted 
in  man  by  nature  and  spirit  and,  in  a  broad  way,  that  which  is 
self-evident. 

Upon  this  fact  of  an  inner  direct  and  immediate  knowledge 
is  built  the  doctrine  that  such  knowledge,  with  the  exclusion  of 
all  mediateness.  is  the  truth. 

Immediacy  is  also  called  (spiritual)  instinct  implanted,  or 
innate  ideas,  ''natural  reason,"  eommon  sense,  "Faith." 

When  the  sage  says  "I  know  I  am  I"  he  needs  not  give  any 
proof.       His  knowledge  is  an  immediate  knowledge,  or  a  know- 


IMMEDIACY  207 

ledge  without  proof.  This  phrase,  "I  know  I  am  I"  does  not 
mean  that  he  can  make  a  reasonable  statement  of  that  fact  if 
called  upon  to  do  it;  it  means  simply  that  he  has  a  sense  of 
identity,  a  sense  of  being  an  individual  in  contradistinction  to 
another  individual. 

As  a  mere  elementary  fact,  the  same  truth  applies  also  to 
my  dog  who  demonstrates  his  individuality  on  the  street  by 
rushing  for  the  first  dog  he  sees  and  getting  into  a  fight.  The 
dog's  case  is  also  one  of  immediacy,  but  one  on  a  lower  plane. 
The  point  of  identity  between  the  sage's  immediacy  and  that  of 
the  dog's  is  this,  that  both  realize  themselves  and  truth  directly 
and  without  proof  or  demonstration.  The  two  states  are  oppo- 
site poles  of  intelligence,  but  within  intelligence.  In  the  mid- 
dle lies  our  common  everyday  world  with  all  its  volitions,  rea- 
sonings, desires  and  quables.  People  without  realization  of 
the  value  of  the  sage's  immediacy  stay  in  the  dog's  condition; 
they,  like  the  dog,  live  their  lives  in  desires,  and  take  no  thought 
for  higher  things.  The  thoughts  they  have  are  engaged  in  the 
affairs  of  the  day,  for  self-satisfaction  and  all  other  selfish  ends. 

The  sage  at  the  other  pole  has  abandoned  all  such  desires 
and  volitions  and  thinkings;  yea,  even  more,  he  has  become  so 
settled  in  the  direct  vision  of  truth  and  is  so  completely  in  the 
company  of  the  highest  powers,  that  he  even  does  not  know 
the  lower  conditions  any  more ;  they  are  not  only  forgotten,  but 
no  more  make  a  part  of  his  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  condi- 
tion. 

Who  and  what  the  sage  really  is,  I  have  described  in  earlier 
chapters,  in  phraseology  drawn  from  the  Tao-Teli-King.  I  will 
now  add  thereto  some  of  my  own  ideas  in  order  to  throw 
further  light  upon  immediacy,  or  the  state  we  are  in  when  we 
live  in  Wu  Wei  or  "non-action"  and  beyond. 

The  sage  in  the  condition  of  immediacy  seizes  his  point 
with  an  intuition  almost,  feminine,  no  matter  what  the  point  may 
be,  intellectual,  volitional  or  perceptional.  And  when  he  has 
got  his  point,  he  realizes  it  with  enthusiasm.  These  realiza- 
tions are  thoroughly  individual,  that  is,  when  he  presents  a 
philosophical  idea,  he  does  not  do  it  in  cool  rationality,  nay,  his 
presentation  is  thoroughly  personal.  It  is  himself.  There  is 
no  abstraction  about  it;  it  is  his  idea,  and.  we  see  and  feel  his 
individuality.  In  the  Occident  we  are  disposed  to  throw  con- 
tempt upon  such  a  man  and  his  teachings.  We  have  become 
so  accustomed  to  the  worship  of  words,  or  literary  idols,  th<tt 


208  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

we  cannot  perceive  the  life  that  comes  to  us  through  a  sage,  and 
our  loss  is  consequently  enormous.  We  get  empty  shells,  and 
no  more.  The  sage's  immediacy  contains  a  revelation,  but  we 
miss  it.  Immediacy  as  it  works  in  the  sage  is  the  main  char- 
acteristic of  all  Inner  Life.  Immediacy  means  feeling  the 
truth,  not  reasoning  it  out.  It  lives  in  faculties  of  inner  per- 
ceptions not  cultivated  in  the  Occident  except  among  the  mys- 
tics or  Inner-Life-people.  These  people  rest  in  their  own 
subjectivity,  and  that  subjectivity  is  moulded  according  to  the 
eternal  pattern,  and  all  they  need  to  do  is  to  look  and  describe 
what  they  perceive  themselves.  An  inner  illumination  is  al- 
ways present  and  that  loosens  the  fetters  of  the  mind  and  allows 
the  mind,  according  to  the  degrees  of  its  culture,  to  set  forth 
the  perceptions  in  words  or  deeds. 

When  we  meet  such  immediacy  we  should  not  argue,  but 
prefer  insight  to  argument ;  subjectivity  to  objective  forms.  The 
insight  allowed  us  will  show  the  universe  one  glorious  and  eter- 
nally active  whole.  It  will  show  us  that  mankind  literally 
is  divinity  "in  the  making,"  that  each  one  of  us  potentially  is 
a  living  divine  attribute.  It  will  show  us  that  we  are  not  made 
by  circumstances  or  by  our  environment,  but  from  within.  All 
this  is  gained  by  Wu  Wei. 

Immediacy  discards  or  rather  does  not  possess  understand- 
ing as  a  degree  of  reason.  It  is  like  the  child  I  have  described; 
still  a  part  of  the  whole  and  not  claiming  separate  existence. 
It  discards  reasoning,  but  glories  in  its  image-making  power,  a 
power  which  to  it  is  everything  and  which  does  everything  for 
it.  In  fact  immediacy  and  the  image-making  faculty  are  twins, 
and  between  them  they  weave  the  real  into  individual  forms. 
Immediacy  is  the  loom  and  the  image-making  faculty  is  the 
weaver.  Most  of  us  cannot  see,  much  less  understand,  the  pat- 
tern that  is  woven,  but  when  it  is  finished  we  see  the  sage. 

I  have  said  that  when  we  meet  immediacy  we  should  not 
argue,  but  prefer  insight  to  argument.  Now  I  add,  when  we 
meet  the  sage  we  should  not  ask  for  a  system  of  wisdom  or  an 
intellectual  structure,  but  we  should  learn  of  him  and  through 
him  as  an  individual;  and  relationship  should  be  one  of  life, 
not  one  of  thought;  one  of  personal  intercourse,  not  of  distance. 
I  think  the  true  relationship  is  expressed  by  Jesu  command 
to  eat  his  flesh  and  drink  his  blood.  In  Tao  and  Teh  all  dis- 
tinctions disappear  and  things  are  identical,  universal,  in  unity. 

Common  people  who  regard  the  objective  or  the  tangible 


wu  wei  209 

world  as  the  only  reality,  will  acknowledge  existence  is  an 
unsolved  riddle  and  a  perpetual  conflict.  The  sage  under- 
stands the  principle  of  identity  of  things. 

Kwang-tze  tells  an  anecdote  to  show  how  little  value  one 
ought  to  place  upon  distinctions.  A  keeper  of  monkeys  ordered 
that  their  rations  of  nuts  should  be  three  in  the  morning  and 
four  at  night;  at  this  the  monkeys  were  very  angry  and  com- 
plained, and  so  the  keeper  ruled  that  the  monkeys  should  have 
four  nuts  in  the  morning  and  three  at  night.  And  with  this 
the  monkeys  were  very  well  satisfied.  They  got  no  more  nuts, 
but  their  whims  or  subjective  views  were  satisfied.  Another 
lesson  can  be  drawn  from  that  anecdote  and  Kwang-tzse  draws 
it.  It  is  this,  that  the  sage  cares  not  for  distinctions;  con- 
traries to  him  are  identical  and  by  following  what  he  calls  ' '  two 
courses  at  once"  he  follows  the  laws  of  heaven;  what  "two 
courses  at  once"  is  I  will  explain. 

The  real  Taoist  is  "both-and";  not  "this"  or  "that";  he 
is  the  reconciliation  of  opposites.  Says  Tao-Teh-King  (XXVIII) : 

"Who  his  manhood  shows 
And  his  womanhood  knows 
Becomes  the  empire's  river. — 
All  come  to  him,  yea  all  beneath  the  sky." 
and  he  is 

"The  simple  child  again,  free  from  all  stains." 

"Who  his  brightness  knows 
And  his  blackness  shows 
Becomes  the  empire's  model. — 
He  in  the  unchanging  virtue  arrayed, 
Man's  first  estate,  the  absolute. 

"Who  knows  hi3  fame 
And  guards  disgrace 
Becomes  a  specious  valley. — 
And  men  come  to  him  from  all  beneath  the  sky," 
and  in  him 

1 '  They  hail  the  simple  infant. ' ' 

Such  a  state  is  immediacy  of  the  sage's  kind  and  the  very 
state  we  wish  to  attain  and  do  attain  by  Wu  Wei. 

It  was  so  in  olden  time,  when  mankind  was  still  young. 
Then  the  sage  was  the  leader  of  men  and  in  undisputed  posses- 
sion of  the  truth.      Alas!      The  age  of  innocence  is  lost — for 


210  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

good  and  for  bad!  We  cannot  recover  what  Mother  Nature 
has  taken  back.  The  wheel  of  existence  can  neither  be  stopped 
nor  made  to  revolve  in  the  opposite  direction.  What  Time 
has  devoured  cannot  be  restored,  nor  do  we  ask  for  the  age  of 
innocence  or  for  the  return  of  anything  past.  We  have  no  need 
of  these  things,  because  the  ages  are  still  rotating  and  a  new 
age  of  innocence  is  always  possible;  the  wheel  of  existence  is 
still  revolving  and  offering  the  same  possibilities  as  of  yore, 
and  time  is  everlastingly  renewing  all  things.  The  mechanism 
of  the  universe  is  as  young  as  ever.  What  we  can  do;  what 
we  must  do;  what  we  want  to  do  is  to  learn  Wu  Wei  of  these 
ancient  people,  for  it  was  by  Wu  Wei  that  they  obtained  happi- 
ness and  immortality,  and  that  is  what  we  want. 

Thus  far  I  have  been  concerned  with  immediacy,  and  there- 
by with  intelligence  and  knowledge  as  one  aspect  of  Wu  Wei. 
But  there  is  also  another  and  a  most  important  side  of  our 
nature  to  be  considered  and  that  side  also  represents  principles 
back  of  the  life  of  the  child  and  the  Chinese  as  above  described. 
That  side  is  the  side  of  conduct. 

To  perfect  wisdom  corresponds  perfect  goodness  or  love  or 
affection.  They  correspond  like  masculine  and  feminine  and 
like  intellect  and  will.  It  is  good  practice  to  consider  goodness, 
love,  affection  and  will  as  the  interior,  and  wisdom  and  intellect 
as  the  exterior,  and  in  that  respect  we  shall  be  in  agreement 
with  all  Inner-Life-people.  They  all  consider  Love  a  direct 
form  of  Divinity,  and  say  that  when  one  acts  from  love  he  acts 
divinely.  Love  is  to  them  divinity  immanently  present  in  the 
world  and  as  such  the  principle  that  binds  the  world  and  its 
parts  together.  Plato  might  well  and  truthfully  say  "that  love 
is  the  mediator  and  interpreter  between  God  and  men." 

It  is  this  principle  that  works  at  the  root  of  the  child's  life 
and  also  back  of  the  Chinaman's  childishness  and  which  is  also 
in  Wu  Wei.  They  are  both,  the  child  and  the  Chinaman,  wis- 
dom and  love,  types  of  the  power  that  binds  things  together. 
They  both  act  intuitively  and  through  the  will.  They  are 
both  flames  of  good,  though  unwittingly  and  often  to  the  scorn 
of  others. 

These  two  principles  of  Wu  Wei  dominated  in  those  ancient 
days  of  China,  such  as  I  have  told  you  the  Chinese  Taoists 
reported  them.  Those  ancient  days  they  called  "the  age  of  per- 
fect virtue"  or  Teh.  They  were,  as  I  have  said  so  often,  a 
result  of  Wu  Wei  and  worthy  of  our  imitation. 


NATURE 
XIV. 

IN  this  chapter  I  will  give  a  few  hints  to  the  understanding  of 
the  Shawnee  tale  told  before.  A  full  interpretation  I  have 
given  elsewhere.  The  present  hints  will  help  to  an  under- 
standing of  Teh  and  conclude  the  exposition  of  the  subject. 
Waupee  and  his  life  may  be  looked  upon  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  three  gunas  and  that  view  will  show  how  great  he  is. 
The  introductory  description  of  him  in  the  story  shows  the  two 
gunas :  Tamas,  the  fundamental  quality  of  bigness  in  rest,  both 
in  activity  and  in  passivity;  it  shows  him  in  nature's  primary 
state  of  preparation  or  "inertia,"  if  this  word  be  properly  under- 
stood. The  same  description  also  shows  him  in  the  guna  of 
Rajas  or  as  a  youth  full  of  energy  and  motion.  He  is  always 
in  action,  hunting,  fishing,  exploring  and  studying  his  surround- 
ings. These  two  qualities,  for  good  and  bad  dominate  him 
until  the  time  he  weds  the  celestial  sister.  Her  advent,  the 
story  tells  us,  makes  him  perfectly  happy  and  that  is  an  evidence 
of  the  sattwa  quality,  the  force  and  power  of  harmony,  of  truth. 
The  three  taken  together  show  him  as  no  mere  specimen  of  a 
man,  but  as  a  species  of  man. 

You  know  that  the  three  gunas  are  modified  in  seven  kinds 
of  ways  or  in  a  sevenfold  way.  All  of  these  I  also  see  in  Waupee. 
Let  me  show  them  in  the  seven  steps  in  his  life.  We  hear 
first  a  description  of  the  simple  minded  Waupee  who,  to  begin 
with,  is  without  any  special  development  in  any  direction.  The 
first  step  is  his  first  day's  discovery  and  the  rise  of  selfhood  in 
him,  caused  by  the  marvels  of  the  open  plain  and  his  first  vision 
of  the  sisters.  The  second  is  his  assertion  of  selfhood  in  deceit, 
when  he  "plays  the  possum."  The  third  is  renunciation  of  self, 
at  the  time  he  became  a  mouse.  The  fourth  is  his  marriage 
to  his  own  Higher  Self,  represented  by  wedding  the  celestial 
sister.      The  fifth  is  his  ' ' fall, ' '  described  as  his  being  ' '  absent, ' ' 


212  THE  INNER  LITE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

and  the  loss  of  the  sister  as  a  result  of  these  "absences."  The 
sixth  is  his  condition  of  suffering  because  of  his  loss  and  his 
resultant  "penances,"  represented  by  his  "returns"  to  the 
haunted  spot  or  the  condition  in  which  the  Celestial  had  come 
to  him  in  the  beginning.  And  finally  his  seventh  degree  is  his 
restoration  by  the  "celestial  marriage,"  at  the  time  he  comes 
up  on  the  heavenly  plains. 

His  return  to  earth  has  nothing  to  do  with  his  development. 
That  represents  a  new  feature  of  what  I  will  call  a  second  series 
of  development.  The  story  of  the  return  may  also  be  looked  upon 
as  Indian  folk  lore  to  account  for  the  origin  and  character  of  the 
White  Hawk. 

It  is  curious,  but  it  is  a  fact,  people  will  rather  walk  that 
Path,  which  is  Teh,  positive,  than  the  Path,  which  is  Teh,  nega- 
tive. It  appears  that  we  will  rather  stand  a  strenuous  life  than 
a  negative,  and  yet,  the  negative,  Wu-Wei,  would  quickly  give  us 
the  fulfillment  of  all  legitimate  desires.  We  will  rather  be  killed 
by  overwork  than  by  non-action.  That  appears  to  be  the  condi- 
tion of  mankind  in  general. 

Yet  a  closer  examination  will  easily  show  that  no  one  can 
live  positively  without  being  "hammered"  from  time  to  time. 
Death  is  a  necessary  element  in  the  universe.  Nobody  likes  a 
cross.  Yet,  Teh,  positive,  is  not  finished  before  we  learn  to  love 
the  cross  and  approve  of  afflictions.  The  reason  is  this,  that 
only  submission  produces  genuine  simplicity.  The  eternal 
"No !"  that  follows  some  people,  finally  frees  them.  The  closed 
doors  are  closed  to  prevent  side-tracking.  The  ball  that  some 
drag  after  them  fastened  to  the  foot  hinders  hastiness.  And 
all  the  endless  chains  that  hold  so  many  of  us  in  conditions  we 
call  prison  life  are  so  many  ropes  that  connect  with  bells  that 
hang  in  the  tower  of  conscience.  And  these  bells  are  always 
sounding  the  alarm,  when  evil  desires  set  us  on  fire, — still  we 
will  not  listen  or  obey! 

Crosses  are  set  against  all  kinds  of  lawlessness  and  place 
us  in  conflict  with  ourselves ;  conflicts  that  always  end  in  victory 
for  the  eternal  Self.  The  last  thing  we  discover  is  that  it  is 
always  justice  that  cuts  down  the  tree  for  our  cross,  and,  that  it 
is  justice  which  nails  it  together  and  hangs  us  upon  it. 

No  cross,  no  crown !  But  as  little  as  you  or  I  can  manufac- 
ture the  eternal  crown  with  our  hands,  as  little  can  we  manu- 
facture crosses  of  eternal  value.  Saints,  so  called,  have  done 
it.     They  have  tortured  themselves,  and  some  have  even  calcu- 


CROSSES  213 

lated  the  value  of  the  coming  crown  in  proportion  to  the  manu- 
factured cross. 

Do  not  manufacture  crosses.  Those  that  come  to  us  in  the 
natural  course  of  life  are  quite  sufficient.  It  sounds  paradoxical, 
but  it  is  true.  Suffering,  or  the  negative  in  life,  has  no  power 
to  hurt  us  if  we  live  in  Wu-Wei,  that  is,  in  non-action.  It  is  my 
own  action  that  makes  suffering  what  it  is.  Teh,  negative,  is 
of  our  own  making  and  that  is  why  we  walk  the  road.  Nobody 
compels  us. 

Who  and  what  is  this  celestial  sister?  I  claim  she  answers 
to  Teh.  You  have  read  what  I  have  said  about  Teh,  and,  rather 
abstractly  at  that.  I  must  therefore  add  to  my  foregone  state- 
ments a  view  of  Teh,  hitherto  held  back.  I  have  purposely 
ignored  the  view  which  I  now  present,  in  order  to  avoid  con- 
fusion, and,  to  connect  the  conception  Teh  with  Tao,  which  I,  in 
earlier  chapters,  explained  to  be  Nature,  without  qualifying  the 
term.  The  connection  is  now  easily  made  and  seen  by  you; 
when  I  recall  to  your  mind  that  all  goddesses  in  the  various 
mythologies  are  no  more  than  personifications  of  forces  or 
nature-powers.  I  take  for  granted,  that  my  readers  know  this. 
That,  too,  is  the  case  in  folklore,  and  my  story  is  folklore.  The 
heroines  of  folklore  are  no  more  than  similar  personifications. 
This  celestial  sister  of  the  Indian  tale,  I  have  related  and  now 
endeavor  to  explain,  is  such  a  personification  of  the  Higher  Self, 
which  reveals  itself  to  Waupee.  All  heroines  and  supernatural 
personalities  that  appear  in  folklore,  folk-songs  and  old  religious 
legends,  have  no  meaning  for  us  unless  understood  that  way. 
Psychology  as  studied  now-a-days  endorses  this  statement.  It 
says  that  the  human  mind  cannot  express  itself  (whatever  it 
may  feel)  or  give  form  to  its  ideals  except  by  images  taken 
from  its  own  subjectivity,  nor  can  we  human  beings  commune 
with  another  human  being  except  through  mind  or  the  Higher 
Self.  In  no  other  way  can  we  possibly  blend.  Mind  or  the 
Highest  Self  is  the  alembic  for  the  smelting  of  human  person- 
alities and  the  extraction  of  the  pure  metal,  called  Entity.  Many 
mystics,  however,  deny  this  and  claim  direct  communion  with 
the  Highest. 

I  will  offer  a  few  thoughts  on  the  subject  of  Teh  or  Mother 
Nature  as  a  personality  and  then  apply  these  thoughts  to  an 
understanding  of  this  celestial  sister.  Mother  Nature  is  not  a 
person  like  you  or  I;  yet  we  cannot  liberate  ourselves  from  a 
realization  and  the  feeling  that  at  times  we  are  guided,  checked, 


214  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

even  pushed;  that  at  times  "the  voice  of  the  silence"  has  some- 
thing in  it  akin  to  us;  that  at  times  we  long  so  intensely  for 
what  we  call  "the  heart  of  nature,"  that  we  intellectually  can- 
not escape  the  conclusion  that  there  must  he  an  essential  affinity 
between  the  spirit  of  man  and  the  life  of  nature.  Our  feeling 
asserts  a  personality,  something  akin  to  ourselves.  But  we 
never  can  get  an  intellectual  verity  before  us.  "We  are  never 
directly  approached.  The  whole  activity  is  going  out  from  us. 
It  is  so  with  most  of  us. 

Mystics  of  all  ages  and  all  lands  however  tell  us  that  they 
have  been  spoken  to,  have  walked  with  and  otherwise  met  such 
a  personality.  And  they  have  a  surety  against  deception  in  their 
"inner  sense,"  so  they  say.  Most  of  us  must  leave  that  asser- 
tion to  them.  We  cannot  follow,  though  we  will  not  for  that 
reason  deny. 

This  is  a  fact:  we  have  a  sense  of  the  infinite,  the  boundless, 
the  eternal,  and,  though  that  sense  will  not  tolerate  any  limita- 
tion of  this  conception,  yet  that  infinite,  that  boundless,  that 
eternal  seems  to  be  something  like  ourselves.  In  reason,  we  can- 
not account  for  the  sense,  but  in  feeling  we  are  perfectly  at 
rest.  And  if  we  are  not  spoiled  by  reflective  logic,  we  even 
become  eloquent  or  poetic,  as  Plato  would  say.  That  again  is 
the  case  with  most  of  us,  yet  mystics  assure  us  of  their  union 
with  that  Infinite !  It  cannot  be  verified  for  us.  Who  has  or 
is  in  the  Truth? 

We  have  a  sense  of  beauty  which  responds  to  the  beauty  of 
the  universe.  At  times  our  response  is  so  powerful  that  we  are 
lifted  out  of  our  temporary  self  and  perceive  ourselves  in  a 
strange  mingling  with  Nature's  beauty,  a  mingling  that  bears 
witness  to  a  close  relationship.  That,  too,  is  for  mystics  far  more 
than  mere  perception.  They  are  translated  beyond  themselves 
and  their  visit  yonder  leaves  them  transfigured.  Again,  I  say, 
ordinarily  for  the  mind,  it  cannot  be  proved.  But  that  is  no 
reason  for  a  denial  of  such  high  perception.  Some  one  is 
deceived,  mistaking  appearance  for  reality!  Is  it  the  mystic  or 
the  common  mind?  Is  Nature  merely  appearance?  May  Nature 
not  be  the  same  as  that  great  Personality  the  mystics  speak  of? 

But  it  is  not  merely  emotional  people  and  poets  who  realize 
the  relationship.  Greek  philosophers  were  overcome  when  they 
realized  the  ordered  arrangement  of  the  universe,  and  the  classi- 
cal people  all  agreed  that  that  which  they  saw  was  not  confusion, 
but  an  universe,  that  is,  an  existence  of  one  idea,  one  aim,  one 


"inner  sense"  215 

kind,  a  One.  Of  moderns,  we  know  of  Kepler's  outburst:  "Oh, 
God,  to  think  thy  thoughts— that  is  my  religion."  It  was  the 
uniformity  of  what  astronomy  showed  him,  and  its  response 
within  that  created  this  perception  of  a  personality!  And  the 
Greek  realization  of  the  same  caused  the  famous  line  of  Aratus 
and  that  of  Cleanthes:  "For  God's  offspring  we  are." 

Laotzse,  if  he  had  heard  it,  would  have  said :  ' '  Amen !  Yes 
Nature,  Teh,  is  the  queen  and  goddess  of  mortals." 

But  Laotzse  would  never  have  clothed  his  thought  in  an- 
thropomorphic forms.  He  felt  Her,  Mother,  Nature,  Teh, 
both  positively  and  negatively,  but  no  terms  of  language  or  art 
would  exhaust  his  idea  and  he  refrained  from  use  of  personifica- 
tions. 

As  is  well  known,  Christianity  asserts  a  family  relationship 
to  the  Highest,  and  that  doctrine  involves  a  communion  far 
deeper  than  one  of  thought  merely. 

Yes!  cried  Goethe,  "We  are  surrounded  and  encompassed 
by  Nature;  unable  to  step  out  and  unable  to  enter  deeper  into 
her." 

It  is,  however,  a  fact,  she  has  never  lifted  her  veil  and  no 
man  has  ever  seen  her  face  to  face,  yet  it  seems  to  us,  that  ever 
and  ever  she  creates  new  forms,  and,  ever  and  ever  she  rushes 
them  out  of  life  again,  acting  like  a  person.  She  is  ever  sacri- 
ficing her  own  product,  and,  death  seems  her  method  for  get- 
ing  more  life.      We  see  a  system  resembling  thought. 

This  fact,  that  Mother  Nature  leaves  a  red  trail  after  her, 
is  often  enough,  and  only  too  often  observed  and  criticised  in 
such  a  way  that  the  critics  only  hurt  themselves.  But  those 
of  us  who  have  spent  a  life-time  with  nature  and  in  close  obser- 
vation, study  and  meditation,  think  differently.  To  us  Nature 
is  no  slaughterer  or  murderer;  no  slayer  or  assassin;  no  Moloch 
or  Thug,  as  is  only  too  often  said  by  the  ignorant.  The  truth 
is  that  she  herself  is  blind  and  is  the  sacrifice;  she  is  the  one 
slaughtered  and  slain;  she  is  the  one  who  is  offered  to  Moloch 
and  the  Thug.  She  herself  wonders  why,  and  has  never  answered 
her  own  riddle,  and  could  not  lift  the  veil  if  she  wanted  to. 
She  herself  would  like  to  know  the  answer  to  the  everlasting 
flux  and  transmutation  which  is  her  life  and  being.  Well  has 
William  Harbutt  Dawson  (N.  Y.  Sun,  Aug.  24,  1901)  sung  about 
this  mystery. 


216  THE  INNER  LITE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

Giant  of  old  am  I, 

The  rock-ribbed  earth  is  my  body; 

The  mountains  that  rise  on  high, 

These  are  my  hands,  my  fingers ; 

The  snow  is  my  hair,  and  the  clouds 

Gather  around  at  my  breathing ; — 

I  whisper  in  wandering  winds, 

But  the  avalanche  crash  is  my  calling. 

When  I  raise  myself  anon 

And  shake  my  limbs  in  the  sunlight 

The  sweat  flows  forth  in  rivers. 

Sons  and  daughters  of  man 

Roam  at  will  upon  me, — 

Climb  to  my  utmost  hand-tips, 

Hide  in  the  hair  on  my  shoulders, 

Glide  in  the  blue  of  my  eyes, 

In  cor'acles  made  of  the  corn  husks,— 

But  I  heed  not  their  coming  and  going. 


Mystery  am  I  to  myself. 

Knowing  not  why,  whence,  whither, 

Knowing  not  purpose  or  end, 

Or  the  things  that  were  or  shall  be; 

Only  faintly  surmising 

That  I  was  by  another  fashioned; 

A  being  vaster  than  I, 

Stronger  in  thew  and  sinew 

Mightier  in  body  and  arm-girth : 

"Giant  of  eld,  thy  child, 

I  greet  thee  Unknown,  Great  Maker ! 


1 1 


But  a  wonder  stranger  is  mine, 

From  age  to  age  enduring: 

As  I  lie  in  the  night's  deep  silence, 

(When  the  light-giver  rests  in  his  chamber), 

And  gaze  in  the  firmament  o'er  me 

Far  from  my  utmost  arm's  reach, 

Far  from  the  sound  of  my  calling, 

And  watch  in  the  solemn  distance 

Of  infinite  space  overshadowing 


MOTHER   NATURE  217 

Those  pale  fires  burning  yonder, 
Never  farther  or  nearer, 
Never  brighter  or  dimmer, 
Burning  forever  and  ever: 
This  is  the  wonder  unceasing 
This  is  the  light  that  appals  me! 

It  is  the  light,  the  counterpart  that  seems  so  far  ofT,  that 
becomes  "the  wonder  unceasing." 

You  hear  the  melancholy  all  through  this  confession  of  self- 
conscious  earth-nature:  "Giant  I  am — yet  I  am  as  naught!" 
And  why?  Because  the  light  is  so  far  off!  The  cry  of  the 
poem  is  the  cry  of  life  for  light,  a  cry  that  can  be  heard  every- 
where, not  only  where  the  moose  calls  across  the  lake,  but  in 
the  roll  of  the  thunder,  when  lightning  leaps  from  cloud  to 
cloud;  not  only  where  human  souls  sigh  in  pain,  but  also  when 
and  where  the  angels,  who  have  no  body,  look  into  the  mysterious 
garment  of  men  and  wonder.  And  why  this  wonder!  Why 
"this  wonder  unceasing?"  Because,  Nature,  ever  in  pain,  ever 
bearing  and  reproducing  is  also  self-sacrificing,  and  it  is  the  cry 
of  the  victim  and  the  smoke  of  the  offering  that  throws  the 
melancholy  veil  over  her,  preventing  her  from  understanding  the 
mystery  of  which  she  herself  is  the  wonder.  She  is  a  sublime 
No-thing.  Nature  is  like  Teh.  Teh  is  life  and  Tao  is  struc- 
ture. They  cannot  exist  apart.  In  the  poem  just  read,  Nature 
is  life,  and  Light  is  the  counterpart;  and,  the  two  are  inseparable 
and  mutually  call  for  each  other,  and  are  in  pain  when  separated. 

Look  into  the  eye  of  a  dog  or  a  bird  and  the  melancholic 
question  stands  there  is  large  letters!  There  is  life  seeking 
light.  Look  over  the  landscape,  be  it  ever  so  smiling,  you 
think ;  look  long  enough  and  the  mystery  shall  be  seen. 

Wherever  she  is,  she  is  incarnate  and  manifested  in  a  form 
of  sacrifice.  She  does  not  live  for  her  own  sake,  she  is  part  of 
another.  As  you  heard  it  in  the  poem,  she  wonders !  she  suffers ! 

Now,  see  how  this  Mother  Nature,  is  a  savior,  an  ever  pres- 
ent deliverer:  Whenever  things  have  come  to  an  extreme  and 
balance  is  lost — there  is  an  explosion  and  things  readjust  them- 
selves.     That  is  deliverance,  salvation. 

When  the  day  has  been  excessively  hot  and  we  are  about  to 
succumb  for  lack  of  air  fit  to  breathe,  Nature  in  the  evening 
either  provides  a  thunderstorm  in  which  all  the  miasma  of  the 
air  eats  itself  up  and  we  are  set  free  under  a  clear  sky  and  to 


218  THE  INNEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

new  hope  and  life,  or  she  sends  a  cool  night  to  redeem  us.  Is 
she  not  thus  a  deliverer,  a  savior? 

If  she  robs  the  shore  on  one  side  of  the  ocean,  she  gives 
freely  on  the  other  and  the  whole  does  not  lose,  but  is  set  free 
from  stagnant  conditions.  Is  she  not  saving  from  death?  Eeal 
death!  She  has  no  speech  or  language,  but  she  takes  care  of 
me  and  saves  me  from  fall  by  the  tongue  and  the  voice  she 
creates  in  another  for  that  purpose!  Is  that  not  redemption? 
Men  do  not  see  Salvation  nor  understand  their  own  redemption, 
because  the  mother  never  betrays  the  mystery.  She  never 
betrays  it  openly,  but  she  whispers  it  to  her  darlings. 

Another  way  of  putting  it  would  be  to  say  that  it  is  the 
essential  character  of  Nature  to  sacrifice  self,  to  consume  self 
and  to  rise  again  from  the  ashes  like  the  fabled  bird  Phoenix. 
This  is  something  we  see  daily,  hourly,  always  and  everywhere 
in  organic  life  and  in  a  little  slower  process,  but  none  less  cer- 
tain, in  inorganic  existences.  Change  and  transmutation  every- 
where ! 

Nature  in  us  is  that  wonderful,  strong  and  sharply  drawn 
pattern  according  to  which  your  separate  individuality  is  built 
>up  in  a  personality.  It  is  the  throb  of  the  blood  and  the  excit- 
ability  of  the  nerves  that  do  the  work  of  building,  repairing 
and  improving.  It  is  that  master-power  Will  which  holds  the 
rudder  firmly  and  prevents  your  ship  from  wreck  and  ruin.  It 
is  the  navigator,  Intelligence,  studying  the  charts  and  keeping 
the  course  straight.  It  is  that  quick  and  living  perception  which 
intuitively  finds  the  way  in  darkness,  distress  and  in  all  growth. 
It  is  that  urge  and  those  longings  which  restlessly  call  you,  and 
invite  you  to  search  the  depths  and  to  scan  the  latitudes.  It  is 
those  images  of  Eternal  Beauty  which  stand  as  beacon  lights  in 
your  life ;  and  it  is  that  intense  wish  to  be  good  which  from  time 
to  time  enthuses  you;  it  is  also  the  dawn  and  the  full  daylight 
of  understanding  that  leads  you  on  and  on.  Everywhere  it  is 
motion,  birth,  rebirth  and  it  never  tires  nor  comes  to  an  end; 
it  is  immortal ;  dreadfully  immortal.  All  these  phenomena  we 
imagine  to  bo  the  glories  of  existence — yes!  they  are  that!,  but 
they  are  also  subtle  falsities,  shadow  plays  and  impermanen- 
cies!  They  are  positive  while  on  the  early  stages  of  the  Path; 
they  are  negative  later  on.  Two  sides  of  Nature!  some  of  the 
wise  men  declare  they  have  seen  this  power  beyond  the  universe 
and  themselves,  but  have  left  no  records  of  the  vision! 

I  will  now  gather  together  these  various  thoughts,  opposites 


ETEBNAL  BEAUTY  219 

and  contradictory  as  some  of  them  are.  When  gathered  and 
seen  at  one  point,  they  represent  to  some  extent  that  stupendous 
power  and  moving  force  called  Teh  in  Laotzse's  book,  and  also 
those  personifications  which  we  in  mythology  call  goddesses,  and 
in  folklore  hear  of  as  celestial  visitors,  like  the  young  sisters 
in  the  American  Indian  story  about  Waupee  and  the  other 
visitors  I  referred  to  in  a  former  chapter,  which  came  to  Bok- 
thius  and  to  that  poor  copyist  who  died  saying,  "I  lost  what  I 
never  possessed."  In  a  summary  the  characteristics  are  some- 
what like  this : 

There  is  about  us  a  power,  infinite  and  mighty;  we  feel  it 
to  be  personal  like  ourselves,  and,  fail  to  express  our  feelings 
unless  we  choose  anthropomorphic  terms.  Mystics  assure  us  this 
power  is  personal,  but  common  mortals  have  no  experience  by 
which  to  prove  it.  Ancient  philosophers  also  expressed  them- 
selves and  declared  there  is  a  close  relationship  between  our- 
selves and  that  power.  Laotzse  felt  the  same,  but  used  no  personal 
terms  for  his  feeling.  Keen  intelligence  and  pure  emotional 
souls  look  upon  this  power  as  sacrificing  its  own  product  in 
order  to  create  more  life,  and,  they  also  see  this  power,  which 
they  call  Mother-Nature  as  self-sacrificing,  though  it  appears  to 
them  that  she  does  not  herself  know  the  aim  and  end  of  her  self- 
sacrifice.  But  they  see  her  self-sacrificing  to  have  the  same  aim 
and  end  as  her  sacrificing  her  own  product,  namely,  the  produc- 
tion of  more  life.  These  deeper  seeing  minds  and  more  sensitive 
souls  see  in  all  this  sacrificing  both  of  her  Self  and  her  products 
the  salvation  or  deliverance  of  man  from  thraldom  and  the  earth 
from  death.  They  see  her  as  the  fabled  bird,  Phoenix,  as  change 
and  transmutation;  they  feel  her  as  nervous  force;  as  master- 
will;  as  intelligence  and  quick  perception;  as  unceasing  long- 
ings and  as  an  image  of  Eternal  Beauty ;  as  the  wish  to  be  good 
and  the  enthusiasm  to  be  it;  as  birth,  rebirth  and  immortality. 

The  principle  of  all  this  is  embodied  in  this  mysterious 
Celestial  Sister  that  comes  to  Waupee.  She  is  to  him  both 
heavenly  and  earthly.  She  comes  like  a  sacrifice  to  him,  that 
he  may  be  lifted  into  the  higher  plane  and  she  sacrifices  him  in 
order  to  be  his  salvation. 

Teh  acts  in  the  same  way  with  us  all. 


AN  APPENDIX  ON  JEAN  JACQUES  ROUSSEAU'S 
IDEAS  OF  "A  RETURN  TO  NATURE  " 

XV. 

I  HAVE  made  so  many  references  to  "A  Return  to  Nature," 
that,  to  avoid  misunderstandings,  I  now  append  a  few  words 
on  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau's  famous  sentence,  "The  Return 

to  Nature,"  a  sentence  my  reader  may  easily  suppose  that 
I  have  had  in  mind  and  refer  to. 

In  my  use  of  the  phrase  "return  to  Nature"  there  is  no 
other  reference  to  Rousseau  than  the  one  that  naturally  arises 
when  great  men  like  Laotzse  and  Rousseau  both  draw  from  the 
great  wells  of  the  Inner  Life,  which  as  a  Finnish  proverb  well 
says,  liDiupa  brunnar  torka  icke:  Deep  wells  never  dry  up." 
The  well  they  both  drew  from  was  Nature,  and  it  is  to  Nature 
that  both,  in  their  own  peculiar  way,  recommend  a  return. 

Both  Laotzse  and  Rousseau  understood  by  Nature:  imme- 
diacy, simplicity,  freedom  and  goodness,  and  they  set  Nature  in 
those  senses  against  culture  by  which  they  understood  that 
which  makes  life  complicated,  constrained,  evil  and  too  reflective. 
By  culture  they  meant  the  formalism,  social  and  ecclesiastic,  of 
their  day.  Their  general  tendencies  were  therefore  the  same 
and  very  much  like  those  of  the  reformers  of  various  times. 
It  is  in  such  senses  that  Rousseau  and  Laotze  agree. 

Their  methods  and  expressions  naturally  differed  widely. 
Laotzse  lived  many  centuries  before  our  era  and  in  a  country 
of  so  much  ceremonialism  and  formalism  that  we  hardly  can 
imagine  its  condition.  Everything  was  overdone,  in  religion, 
ethics  and  societary  order,  though  these  were  not  evil  or  corrupt 
as  we  understand  such  terms.  Order  had  become  a  tyrant  and 
was  no  more  a  help  to  live  rationally.  Regulations  or  cus- 
toms crushed  expansion  and  competition.  Men  did  not  think 
for  themselves,  but  observed  rules  laid  down  by  others  as  ignor- 
ant and  narrow  as  themselves,  but  in  power  of  government. 
This  state  of  affairs  was  a  result  of  the  former  age's  struggles 


JEAN  JACQUES  EOUSSEAU  221 

for  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  life  and  freedom.  In  that  age, 
it  was  a  living  state  of  things,  and  it  was  a  high  form  of  civiliza- 
tion and  culture  and  useful  for  progress,  but  it  was  not  taken 
over  by  the  next  age  in  its  original  vitality  and  progressive 
power,  but  as  mere  matter  and  form,  and  for  that  reason  it 
became  a  curse.  It  was  this  curse  and  burden,  that  Laotzse 
labored  against. 

Rousseau  lived  many  centuries  after  the  beginning  of  our 
era  and  in  an  age  which  he  declared,  in  his  Dijon-Prize  essay  on 
the  effect  of  the  progress  of  civilization  on  morals  (1750),  had 
lost  its  soul  and  substituted  corruption  in  the  same  measure  a 3 
it  had  progressed  in  the  sciences  and  arts.  His  age  had  denied 
a  state  of  happy  ignorance  with  its  original  spontaneous  way 
of  living  and  immediate  relations  to  nature.  It  had  allowed 
itself  to  be  suppressed  by  externalities ;  it  had  tolerated  restless- 
ness to  supplant  the  inner  peace,  that  comes  from  a  contented 
life.  Rousseau's  charges  were  set  forth  with  much  warmth  and 
enthusiasm  and  it  was  felt  that  he  was  a  new  power.  He 
became  famous  but,  like  Laotzse  and  all  men  of  his  stamp,  in 
his  old  age  a  lonesome  and  deserted  man.  His  enemies  and 
the  enemies  of  naturalness  did  not  like  originality,  natural 
energy  and  the  fresh  and  healthy  aroma  that  comes  from  a  life 
in  the  Open.  Such  people  shun  the  cool  and  clear  waters  fresh 
from  the  springs.  They  prefer  the  compound  drinks  of  intoxi- 
cating liquors  and  the  rich  sources  of  flattery  offered  at  socie- 
ties' testimonial  dinners. 

As  they  were  in  Rousseau's  day,  so  they  are  to-day,  and 
right  here  among  us.  We  have  to  fight  them  if  we  wish  to  help 
our  age  to  truth  and  liberty.  They  are  the  real  hindrances  to 
all  Inner  Life  and  true  social  order.  They  are  the  associates 
of  Kali,  the  dark  and  dreadful  goddess,  who  has  given  the  name 
to  this  age. 

I  shall  not  need  to  review  Laotzse 's  principles  and  system, 
if  any  "system"  can  be  attributed  to  him.  Enough  has  been 
said  in  the  foregone  chapters.  But  I  will  give  a  resume  of 
Rousseau's  ideas  and  teachings  and  invite  the  reader  to  make 
comparisons. 

One  special  difference  between  Laotzse  and  the  Inner  Life 
on  one  side,  and  Rousseau  on  the  other,  must  be  noted  at  the 
outset.  It  colors  all  Rousseau's  utterances  and  it  places  him 
apart  when  we  speak  of  the  Inner  Life.  He  is  a  literary  man, 
and  neither  religious  nor  philosophical. 


222  THE  INNER  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

The  fundamental  type  of  Rousseau's  thinking  is  the  opposi- 
tion he  sees  between  the  immediate,  the  original,  the  self-cen- 
tered, the  totality  of  the  soul  on  the  one  side  and  the  relative,  the 
partial,  the  dependent  and  the  mixed,  on  the  other  side.  In  the 
first  he  sees  life  as  its  own  cause  and  effect,  born  of  its  own 
energy  and  endeavor,  and  in  the  second  he  sees  limitations,  com- 
pulsions and  inner  diremption.  The  first  is  the  Absolute;  the 
second  is  the  Relative.  The  first  is  Nature,  the  second  is  what 
he  calls  Culture. 

Rousseau  uses  the  word  Nature  in  three  senses.  The  first 
sense,  the  theological,  appears  when  he  speaks  of  the  world  as 
God's  creation  and  the  "heavenly  and  majestic  simplicity  with 
which  its  creator  adorned  it."  That  divine  condition  he  calls 
Nature  and  contrasts  it  with  the  distortions,  twists  and  obliquity 
introduced  by  man,  which  he  calls  Culture.  Rousseau  also 
says  that  all  things  proceed  pure  and  good  from  their  natural 
origin. 

The  second  sense,  the  "natural-history"  sense,  appears 
when  he  describes  "the  primitive  condition"  and  explains  how 
inequalities  arose.  In  man's  original  "zoological"  nature-condi- 
tion there  was  perhaps  no  marked  "majestic  simplicity."  It 
was  an  instinctive  life.  Man  had  no  reflection  nor  imagination. 
He  had  but  few  necessities ;  they  were  physical  and  easily  satis- 
fied. While  Rousseau  is  not  blind  to  the  "primitive  man's" 
low  and  brutal  state,  and  seems  to  have  seen  its  contradiction 
to  "the  majestic  simplicity"  elsewhere  described,  he  laments  its 
loss.  The  loss  of  the  life  of  instinct  is  to  him  a  sort  of  "fall" 
from  a  paradisaical  state. 

The  third  sense  of  the  word  Nature  appears  in  Rousseau's 
psychology.  When  he  speaks  in  this  sense  he  ignores  the  two 
others  and  plunges  into  introspection,  that  he  may  find  man's 
original  (natural)  and  fundamental  powers  and  being.  The 
result  of  his  examination  is  that  he  declares  that  the  original 
Man,  or,  Man  according  to  his  nature,  is  good  and  sound, 
though  men  may  be  bad.  He  wants  men  to  return  to  this,  the 
original  good  and  sound  nature,  to  heart-life,  and  shun  all  exter- 
nal relations  which  blurr  the  vision  and  contaminate  morals. 
He  thinks  that  silence  and  solitude  make  it  possible  for  mankind 
to  find  the  original  nature.  By  "being  good"  Rousseau  meant 
that  "we  express  our  nature"  and  he  himself  in  moments — sans 
diversion,  sans  obstacle — thought  himself  to  have  been  so  good 
such  as  Nature  intended  him  to  be.      And  he  declares  emphat- 


THE  NATURAL  LITE  223 

ically  that  all  men  have  fundamentally  a  desire  to  be  as  they 
should  and  ought  to  be.  There  is  in  everybody  a  natural  ten- 
dency to  maintain  his  selfhood,  an  amour  de  soi  as  he  calls  it. 
But  this  amour  de  sod,  the  healthy  self  maintenance,  has  to  meet 
and  fight  an  amour  propre,  selflove,  something  our  surroundings 
develop,  something  not  ourselves.  The  amour  propre  does  not 
exist  in  a  society  where  man  has  to  do  with  himself  alone.  Such 
a  society  does  not  create  a  desire  for  distinction,  preferment.  In 
the  amour  de  soi  there  is  an  abundance  of  energy,  and  it  is  all 
spent  in  natural  self-development,  while  the  amour  propre  pa- 
ralyses man's  energy  by  shattering  his  self-centredness.  To 
be  directed  by  Nature  and  to  live  according  to  Nature  means 
a  life  according  to  amour  de  soi,  and,  moreover,  such  a  life  cre- 
ates sympathy  with  other  beings,  the  very  opposite  of  amour 
propre  which  sets  distinctions  of  separateness  against  other  be- 
ings. In  the  amour  de  soi  only  are  we  free  beings  and  may  feel 
ourselves  as  gods :  on  se  suffit  a  soi-meme  comme  Dieul  In  the 
amour  de  soi  we  have  few  needs  and  make  no  comparisons.  In 
the  amour  pro-pre  we  multiply  desires  and  defer  to  other  peo- 
ple's opinions. 

Like  Laotzse,  Eousseau  also  thinks  that  much  learning  is 
a  hindrance  to  a  natural  life.  By  self-rest,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
open  ourselves  to  all  the  natural  influxes  which  correspond  to 
our  own  nature. 

Our  best  and  true  teacher  in  the  natural  life  is  feeling,  and 
Rousseau  has  the  merit  of  having  placed  the  feelings  in  their 
right  position  in  psychology,  and,  he  has  that  merit  in  spite  of 
previous  work  done  by  such  men  as  Spinoza,  Shaftesbury,  Hut- 
cheson  and  Hume.  We  have  (all  of  us)  an  inherent  liking  or  dis- 
liking; and  these  are  Nature's  monitors;  they  act  instinctively 
and  speak  clearly,  where  they  are  not  corrupted.  Feeling  and 
reason  are  really  two  sides  of  the  same  nature.  If  we  follow 
feeling  we  live  in  unity.  By  feeling  is  of  course  not  meant  our 
sensations,  or  what  psychology  generally  calls  the  feelings.  By 
feeling  is  understood  broadly,  the  Inner  Man. 

By  feeling  or  which  is  the  same,  by  inner  perception  or 
immediate  knowledge,  we  get  religion.  City  people  who  have 
no  feeling  except  when  they  run  against  stone  walls ;  who  have  no 
perceptions  except  when  tired  out  by  the  length  of  their  streets ; 
who  have  no  immediate  kowledge,  but  are  full  of  reports  of 
crimes  and  the  like  from  their  newspapers, — city  people  have 
no  religion.         How  could  any  ecstaey  strike  them !         Their 


224  THE  IN  NEB  LIFE  AND  THE  TAO-TEH-KING 

hearts  are  not  sensitive ;  their  eyes  do  not  know  the  wide  views ; 
their  ears  hear  only  noises,  but  never  the  rhythm  of  the  winds 
sighing  at  sunrise.  Let  them  withdraw  from  that  unnatural 
existence.  It  never  generated  religion  or  mystic  longings  for 
the  greatest,  the  Infinite.  Rousseau  never  tires  of  calling  to 
us  to  close  our  books  and  ecclesiastic  conventions  and  retire 
to  open-air-nature,  there  to  find  our  own  soul,  who  is  our  true 
god. 

In  the  first  stages  of  education,  says  Rousseau,  it  is  of  prime 
importance  that  the  original  nature  of  the  child  has  full  and  free 
play  of  its  feelings  for  and  against  that  which  it  wants  or  does 
not  want.  Only  by  so  doing  does  it  become  possible  to  regulate 
the  child's  growth  according  to  its  own  inherent  character  or 
nature  and  not — according  to  somebody  else's  notions.  This 
idea  is  the  prevailing  one  in  Rousseau's  handling  of  the  problem 
of  education. 

In  the  history  of  the  development  of  human  thought  and  life, 
Rousseau  represents  a  revival  of  the  ancient  naturalism  which 
placed  instinct  above  reflection.  A  little  before  him  there  had 
already  been  an  awakening  of  the  Hellenic  sense  of  Nature, 
with  all  its  acceptances  of  objective  joy  in  natural  facts  and 
natural  simplicity  and  impulses.  But  Rousseau  is  the  man 
whom  history  names  as  the  father  of  the  movement  in  Europe 
in  a  general  way,  and,  in  France  in  a  special  way,  and  as  the 
opponent  to  abstract  ideological  notions. 

With  Rousseau,  feeling  comes  into  the  history  of  philosophy 
as  an  independent  and  absolute  principle  and  in  no  way  subject 
to  the  intellect.  From  feeling  is  henceforth  derived  religion, 
poetry  and  romanticism,  represented  by  such  famous  names  as 
those  of  Schleiermacher  and  Novalis,  for  instance.  Everywhere 
humanity  seems  to  "find  its  own"  by  turning  against  the  dry 
intellect,  and  alas!  humanity  also  finds  itself  tied  by  the  new 
errors  and  sins! 

Ever  since  Rousseau's  time  genius  has  spread  its  wings  as 
never  before;  common  man,  who  before  was  not  even  supposed 
to  be  able  to  think,  broke  out  from  his  social  and  mental  prison, 
borne  by  the  new  overflowing  life  and  images  and  thought,  and 
combinations  of  these  now  made  possible  have  enriched  the  hu- 
man mind  most  marvelously.  Never  before  had  men  directly 
from  the  soil  come  forth  as  leaders  in  life  and  thought.  The 
New  Age  culture,  such  as  it  is  known  in  the  United  States,  could 
nover  have  seen  the  day  except  for  Rousseau. 


THE  NATURAL  LIFE  225 

A  sensible  study  and  intelligent  application  of  the  ideas  and 
methods  of  Laotzse  and  Rousseau  will  go  far  to  refresh  indi- 
vidual souls  and  develop  true  self-reliance.  It  will  create  true 
will  power  and  work,  and,  wealth  both  of  mind  and  pocket.  It 
will  do  away  with  our  boastful  self-complacency  and  the  intoler- 
able strain  of  trust  associations,  and  also  place  these  in  their 
position  as  public  servants  rather  than  as  tyrants.  In  my  opinion 
the  new  ideas  for  our  age  and  the  coming  age,  ideas,  we  all  long 
for  in  the  name  of  religion,  philosophy  and  social  organization, 
lie  slumbering  in  the  teachings  and  methods  left  us  by  Laotzse 
and  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau. 

In  the  confidence  that  I  have  done  something  to  draw  these 
teachings  out  of  their  unmerited  obscurity,  and  in  the  hope  that 
they  sooner  or  later  may  be  made  useful,  I  conclude  these  chap- 
ters on 

The  Inner  Life  and  the  Tao-Teh-King. 


INDEX 


Alborgi    25 

Anaximander    10 

Anamnesis    14 

Apollo   163 

Aristotle   and   Aristotelianism. .  .10,27 

Arnold,  Mathew   43 

Art    36 

Ascetics  and  Asceticism    37,  46 

Astral  plane   8 

Augustine,  St 32 

Athanase    59 

Ave   Maria    18 

Bathing  and  Baptism   69 

Beauty    139 

Bhagavad   Gita 94,   109ft 

Blake,  Wm 51 

Boethius    30 

Bohme,  Jacob 32 

Brahminism  35,  94 

Brotherhoods     3 

Buddhism    35,  37,  94 

Candle    (symbol)     157ff 

Catharine  of  Sienna   56 

Caves  and  Wells   85,  87 

China  and  Chinese   203ff 

Child,    The     202 

Chovang-tzu    44,  199 

Cogito;  co-agito   47 

Coleridge     22 

Confucius   62,  96 

Consciousness     139,  141 

"Copyist,"  The   117ff 

Cosmic   Energy    37,  45 

Christianity    11,  35 

Crosses     213 

Demeter     38 

Descartes     32 

Dionysus    162 

East   and    West    4 

Eckhardt,   Meister 36,   48.   57.  64 

Eleatics    27 


Fichte    32 

Fiona  Macleod   50 

Fire   Philosophy    27 

Form    51 

Four,    Number    145 

Fudji-no-yama    19,  25 

Ganzen,      Guten,      Schonen-im-zu- 

leben    154ff 

Goethe    15,   102,   142,   154ff 

Grace    59,  70f 

Growth     41 

Good,  The    8 

Guyon,  Mme 56 

Hassidim  35 

Herder    32 

Helen   of  Troy 142 

Herodotus  29 

Hermas  Pastor   52 

Hippocrates    167 

Hopi  Indian   23 

Huai-nan-tsze  66 

Idea,   The    88 

Idealism    27,  51 

Image    of    God 28 

Immediacy   43,  56,  206ff 

Indra  113 

Iliad   of   the    East    113ff 

Inner  Life Iff,  31ff,  36,  40,  45 

Intellect  47 

Intelligible  World    7 

Ishtar   and    Ishtubar 38 

Isis    38 

Jacob    32 

Jacobi   32 

Japan    18 

Jesus     37f 

John  of  the  Cross 48 


11 


INDEX 


ludaeism 35 

Jupiter    172 

Kabbalah  35 

Kaf    25 

Kant   5,  32,  47 

Karma    4,    65,    172 

Keats    41 

Kenosis    45 

Knowledge    52 

Kosmos    7 

Ku    189 

Laotzse    72ft,  89ff 

Lessing    32 

Longevity     105ff 

Love    34 

Matter    9f 

Meru    25 

Michael   Angelo    36 

Milinda    189 

Mohammedanism    35 

Molinos    56 

Mother  Goddesses, 

9f,  25,  76,  83,  142ff,  179 

Music  146 

Mystics   and    Mysticism 34ff 

Mystic   Ways    2,   194 

Nagasena     189 

"Nakedness"    38.    190ff 

Nature    and    Nature    Worship. .  18,  20, 
57,  63,  84f,   120,   124ff,   132f,  211ff 

Nerthus    85 

Neo    Platonism    31 

New   York    City 23 

Nielsen,    Rasmus    31 

Novalis     32 

Nous    144 

Number    144 

Occultism    36 

Okio     18.    20,  26 

Overcoming   15,  38,  46 

Path.  The    82,  96,  101 

Philo   Judreus    18 

Plato  and  Platonism. 7,  9.  27fT,  44,  190fT 

Plotinus    32 

Poetry     148 


Presence,  The   74 

Paul,  St  168 

Quietism    187 

Rabia    46 

Realism    27 

Reincarnation     4 

Reinhold    32 

Renaissance  32 

Reason   48ff,  140 

Robertson,  Fr   36 

Rousseau    43ff,   220ff 

Ruskin    68 

Sais     Ill 

Salvation     217ff 

Samadhi    5f 

Sculpture  147 

Schelling    28,  32 

Schiller   32,  110 

Schleirmacher    29 

Schoolcraft    181 

Seeing  through   the   Eyes 50 

Self    Assertion     107 

Self   Realization    154 

Seneca    173ff 

Senses,  The  39ff,  140 

Sepher   Jetzisah    35 

Shamzy    36 

Shawnee  Tale    181ff,  212ff 

Shelley    21,   139 

Simple   People   and   Life 60 

Simplicity 18f,   55ff,  78f,   199ff 

Silence   and   Solitude    1  Iff 

Sincerity    78 

Soul     54 

Space    10 

Spiritism    36 

Stillness 116ff,   129 

Stoics    43 

Sufis  and  Sufism  5,  28,  35 

Syndcresis     48 

Tao  and  Taoism.  .25f,  33f,  49,  64f,  76ff, 
97f,  130,  134,  136ff,  145 

Tauler    53.    125 

Tea-room     191 

Teh    78.   101,   152ff,   174ff 

Temple    49,  92 

Tennvson     44 


INDEX 


111 


Terstegen    180      Vedanta 

Thor   38 

Thought    7,  29 

Thought-forms   109ff 

Theosophy    3,  33,  96 

Theresa,  St  56 

Tyndal    36 


,51f 


Upanishads    51 

Uttera   Kurus    115ff 


Water    66ff 

Wisdom   30 

Whitman,   Walt    17 

Wordsworth    21,  26 

Wu  Wei 20,  25,   116,   187ff 

Zohar    36 

Zoroaster    94,    106 


THE  LIFE    AND    THE    DOCTRINES  OF 

PARACELSUS 


jlLCHEMlST,   PHYSICIAN  AND  PHILOSOPHER 


By  FRANZ  HARTMANN,  M.D. 

PRICE,  CLOTH,  QILT  TOP,  $2.50 

NO  student  of  the  occult  can  afford  to  overlook  Paracelsus. 
At  a  time  when  the  light  of  the  ancient  wisdom  was  as 
near  extinction  as  it  has  ever  been,  his  was  well  nigh  the  only 
haDd  that  held  aloft  the  blazing  torch  of  a  science  that  was  based 
upon  spiritual  laws.  But  for  Paracelsus  with  his  incomparable 
knowledge,  his  splendid  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  of  humanity, 
his  untiring  industry,  and  his  contempt  for  danger  and  death, 
the  world  today  would  be  poorer  both  in  wisdom  and  the  incen- 
tive to  its  pursuit.  Paracelsus  was  martyred  by  his  enemies,  as 
such  teachers  always  are,  but  not  before  be  had  created  a  vast 
literary  monument  that  no  malignity  could  destroy. 

It  is  fortunate  that  the  voluminous  writings  of  Paracelsus — 
and  they  are  amazing  in  their  scope  and  variety — should  find 
an  editor  and  a  translator  so  well  equipped  as  Dr.  Franz  Hart- 
maun.  Himself  a  student  of  distinction,  he  brings  to  his  work 
not  only  a  marked  erudition  but  a  devotion  that  is  guided  by  in- 
telligent appreciation  of  the  needs  of  the  day  and  of  those  parti- 
cular departments  of  research  that  are  most  consonant  with. 
modern  theosophic  thought.  Dr.  Hartmann  is  not  only  a  trans- 
lator, but  an  interpreter.  The  strenuous  career  of  Paracelsus^ 
his  sudden  and  tragic  death,  prevented  the  orderly  arrangement 
and  presentation  of  his  writings  which  he  himself  had  contemp- 
lated, and  Dr.  Hartmann's  labors  have  therefore  been  largely 
directed  to  a  grouping  of  subjects  and  their  condensation  into  a 
form  that  is  both  compact  and  adequate.  Thus  we  have  sections 
devoted  to  : 

Cosmology,  Anthropology,  Magic,  Sorcery,  Medicine, 
Alchemy,     Astrology,    Philosophy    and  Theosophy. 

Those  who  have  written  on  occult  philosophy  from  their 

own  knowledge  are  few  and  far  between,  but  Paracelsus  was 

one  of  them.     He  himself  says  that  he  did  not  scruple  to  con- 


verse  with  the  dregs  of  society,  with  hangmen  and  fortune  tellers, 
with  anyone  who  could  add  even  the  most  insignificant  fact  to 
his  painfully  gathered  store.  It  is  certain  that  he  visited  India 
and  was  initiated  into  the  higher  wisdom  by  the  hierophants  of 
that  country,  and  probably  no  teacher  ever  lived  until  the  pres- 
ent age  who  poured  out  his  knowledge  with  such  lavish  prodi- 
gality. Dr.  Hartmann  is  to  be  congratulated  upon  an  admirable 
epitome,  and  one  prepared  with  discriminating  skill  for  the  bene- 
fit of  earnest  students  who  will  find  that  there  is  hardly  a  corner 
of  the  occult  field  that  is  left  unilluminated  by  this  remarkable 
book. 


Have  !2ou  a  Strong  Mill? 

By  CHARLES  G.  LELAND 

1 2mo,  Cloth,  Gilt  Top,  300  Pages.     Price  $  1 .50 

The  title  of  this  book  is  a  question  to  you.  However  you 
answer,  it  will  be  to  your  advantage  to  get  the  book  and  study  it. 
The  author  was  not  a  theorist  only.  Mr.  Leland  says  that  what 
is  is  contained  in  "  Have  You  a  Strong  Will  ? "  is  a  scientific 
presentation  of  the  result  of  his  personal  experience  and  which  is 
corroborated  by  those  who  have  followed  the  instructions  given. 
He  says  that  anyone  of  ordinary  intelligence  can,  if  he  will,  fol- 
low these  instructions,  awaken  powers  and  faculties  that  he  had 
not  dreamed  he  possessed ;  that  one  can  train  his  faculties  and 
direct  his  powers  so  that  he  may  accomplish  his  work  in  life. 
Will  is  shown  to  be  a  magic  wand  by  which  the  memory  can  be 
perfected  in  from  one  year  to  eighteen  months,  diseases  cured, 
insomnia  overcome,  nervous  disorders  repaired,  and  man  shown 
how  he  can  train  his  thoughts  into  an  orderly  and  constructive 
system.  This  not  only  applies  to  adults;  the  author  says  he  has 
demonstrated  the  efficacy  of  what  he  teaches  with  over  2,000 
children  whom  he  personally  has  instructed.  Parents  may  fol- 
low his  methods  with  great  advantage  to  their  children.  This  is 
not  one  of  the  fugitive  New  Thought  books.  It  is  written  by  a 
man  of  intellect  and  of  wide  practical  experience,  who  has  at 
heart  the  interest  of  those  to  whom  he  speaks.  He  asks  the 
reader  to  pass  no  judgment  on  the  book  until  he  has  read  and 
tried  it.     Do  this. 


Magic,  White  and  Black 

THE  SCIENCE  OF  FINITE  AND  INFINITE  LIFE 
CONTAINING  PRACTICAL  HINTS  FOR  STUDENTS  OF  OCCULTISM 

By  FRANZ  HARTMANN,  M.D. 

PRICE.  CLOTH.  GILT  TOP.  $2.00 

NO  one  can  read  this  book  without  being  helped  by  it.  The 
title  may  startle  you,  but  the  contents  will  stimulate  you 
and  make  you  eager  to  know  more  about  yourself  and  your 
possibilities.  The  world  is  said  to  be  great,  but  man  is  shown 
to  be  greater.  You  are  told  of  the  powers  of  man  and  of  nature, 
but  not  with  the  wearying  detail  of  the  statistician,  nor  in  the 
flat  statements  of  the  moralist,  nor  in  the  cold  intellectual  sen- 
tences of  the  analysist,  nor  from  the  uncertain  impulses  of  the 
emotionalist.  You  are  spoken  to  directly  in  strong,  clear  and 
invigorating  words  which  will  not  let  your  interest  lag. ,.  Abstruse 
subjects  are  dealt  with,  but  these  are  brought  to  where  you  live 
and  told  so  simply  and  plainly  and  appeal  to  your  good  sense 
and  reason  so  strongly  that  you  are  pleased  with  yourself  for 
understanding  the  subject  and  wonder  why  you  did  not  learn  of 
it  before.  You  read  the  book  without  wearying  and  each  sub. 
ject  is  dealt  with  so  interestingly  and  suggestively  as  to  awaken 
and  stimulate  the  mind  to  new  efforts  and  higher  attainments. 
Numerous  sentences  are  so  alive  and  are  so  self-evident  and 
helpful  that  many  readers  have  written  out  some  of  these  which 
have  most  appealed  to  their  cases  and  have  given  them  con- 
spicuous places  in  their  rooms.  Here  are  some  of  the  subjects 
which  are  treated : 

The  Will,  Mysticism,  Intuition,  Self  Knowledge,  Self- 
ishness,   Sacrifice,    The    Ideal,   Meditation,   Illumination, 
Superstitions,  Medical  Science,  The  Elixir  of  Life,  The 
Mind,  Consciousness,  Creation,  Induction,  Astral  Forms, 
Life,  The  Astral  Light,  Use  of  the  Passions,  Purification, 
Fancy  and   Imagination,  Happiness,  Inner  Senses,  The 
Process  of  Dying,  The  Mystic  Death,  and  there  are  other 
subjects  in  which  you  will  be  no  less  interested. 
This  is  not  a  trick  book,  nor  a  book  of  parlor  magic  for 
idle  amusement.     It  is  a  book  which  can  work  magic  with  you 
in  interesting  you  in  the  things  which  will  be  of  most  permanent 
value.     It  is  not  a  new  book,  but  if  you  have  not  a  copy  you 
will  want  one.     It  is  a  new  book  if  you  have  not  read  it,  but  as 
soon  as  vou  do,  it  will  be  an  old  friend. 


RE-INCARNATION 

A  STUDY  OF  FORGOTTEN  TRUTH 


By  E.  D.  WALKER 


Cloth,  gilt  top,  350  page*,  price,  $1.50 

THIS  IS  THE  NEW  AND  UNABRIDGED  EDITION  OF  MR.  WALKER'S 
REMARKABLE  WORK 

IF  you  are  interested  in  Reincarnation  you  will  want  this  book, 
because  it  will  add  to  your  knowledge  on  the  subject.  If 
you  are  not  interested  you  should  read  this  book,  because  it 
concerns  you.  Is  it  not  of  interest  to  know  what  you  were  be- 
fore you  came  into  this  world,  and  why  you  will  again  reincar- 
nate ?  You  cannot  afford  to  lose  this  opportunity  of  learning 
about  the  reincarnation  of  yourself  as  a  soul  who  has  lived 
through  death  and  birth,  and  how  you  as  a  soul  will  live  through 
other  deaths  and  births.  This  book  will  tell  you  about  Reincar- 
nation and  what  the  greatest  minds  in  the  past  have  said  about  it. 
It  shows  how  modern  literature,  poetry  and  philosophy  teach 
it.  "We  conclude  that  reincarnation  is  necessitated  by  immor- 
tality, that  analogy  teaches  it,  that  science  upholds  it,  that  the 
nature  of  the  soul  needs  it,  that  many  strange  sensations  support 
it,  and  that  it  alone  grandly  solves  the  problem  of  life." 

Reincarnation  is  shown  to  be  different  from  transmigration 
and  metempsychosis.  Western  objections  to  the  doctrine  are 
taken  up,  analyzed  and  exploded.  You  will  find  here  statements 
about  Reincarnation  made  by  the  most  authorative  writers  of  all 
countries.     Among  the  modern  authors  quoted  are  : 

Schopenhauer,  Lessing,  Schelly,  Goethe,  Schiller, 
Hume,  Glanvil,  Southey,  Milton,  Coleridge,  Wordsworth, 
Browning,  Tennyson,  Longfellow,  Lowell,  Carlyle  and 
Emerson.  c 

You  will  be  glad  for  having  purchased  this  book. 

The  Theosophical  Publishing  Co.  of  New  York 
253  WEST  72d  STREET    -    -    MEW  YORK 


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